“Expect a tougher encounter than last time round” against Haverhill at home, we were told by Jan, and tougher it indeed was. (Spoiler alert – we lost this time, in spite of many moments of brilliance!).

So much went well - we got off to a good start with some lovely one-two passes up the pitch, the defence, mids and forwards, working together seamlessly and making the pitch look very spacious.

Sadly Haverhill managed to break through and squeeze a goal in, but we fought back, and after some lovely pressure from the forwards, the battle resulted in Sarah popping the ball in for us: 1-1.

Our goalie, Kath, returning to hockey for the first time for a while, was on fire! She flung herself around, beautifully defending many attacks on goal by the opposition, foiling their attempts to score, ultimately earning her POM. Sadly Haverhill managed to get one in from a short corner, and then a decision went against us when Elly’s thumb was unfortunately mistaken for her foot, and a penalty flick was given. Kath so nearly saved it, but the scoreline at half-time was 3-1.

In the second half, we came back fighting again, and really looked like the stronger side, as we controlled the game better, spread the ball out more, and were awarded some short-corners. Haverhill managed to break through with another goal, and then some great passing and possession from South culminated in a beautiful cross from Elodie to Sarah who tapped it in to bring the scoreline to 4-2.

The time flew; we kept thinking we could still get it back, but Haverhill managed to score again via their post player, who’d devoted herself to staying high all match to await her opportunity.

The goal line wasn’t reflective of the skills or possession shown, or of the work rate of the L5s.

POM nominations came in for Hayley’s perfect positioning for passing, Molly’s momentous marking, Fi’s fierce fighting, Holly’s heroic hard-work, Elly’s expertise and endeavours, and Sarah’s great goal gusto! Sophie’s distraction and confusion over her name awarded her LOM. Bring on the next game – we’re spoiling for a win!