T-30 until the L4s pushback with the Pelicans and more than half the team are stuck behind a horse box on the A10. With frantic texts from Elle, the game began with our South Ladies 4 drowning in the large men's tops (Lemon for Cat and Bex for picking up the wrong tops). 

South dominated both halves of the game, with Cat making great runs on goal, supported by inners Bex and Becky W. The D became very crowded, with the Pelicans aggressively marking man-to-man and managing to keep us out. On the break, a short corner was awarded and with a good strike from the Pelicans and some confusion between goalie and post-stopper, Pelicans went 1-0 up.

The heavens opened briefly after half time sweets and team talk. We were playing fantastically but the ball just wouldn't seem to go over the line.

Until, that is, a great ball between Ruth and Avi turned the tides. South finally managed to slip one in past their goalie to make the score even.

Throughout the rest of the second half, South battled hard for another goal. Vinnie made some excellent runs up front as well as defending nice and early for us to keep possession in the attacking half. This lead to her being awarded a well deserved player of the match. Naomi, Bex and Lou kept creating chance after chance whilst Cat had to go off after a stick to the head in our D. (Their foot, stick to head, possibly a second foot is definitely a bully right? VAR pleaseeeeee)

Their goalie had some great saves including one with her hand right under the top bar. South started to get desperate, hitting hard balls into the D rather than sticking with nice short passes. There were several close deflections but no success.

Quite frankly I'm not sure how this happened, but a ball was awarded to them just outside their D. It was taken quickly with a short pass creating confusion amongst our defenders. The Pelicans capitalised on it with an excellent strike right into the corner of our goal. Gutting. 

The whistle blew with us 2-1 down and even the visual of the men's teams having to play in our small tops couldn't cheer us up. Avi's banana bread just about managed, it was delicious. 
I was proud of the fight and resilience we showed this week gals and love seeing us all improve as a team week after week in a tough division. Our time will come!