Facing Peterborough for the second time this season after a confident 3–1 win back in September the L4s arrived confident but admittedly running on end-of-season fumes. With a slightly late arrival and a less-than-ideal warm-up (oops!) the opening quarter saw Peterborough come out the stronger side, showing pace, sharp coordination and possibly more caffeinated. Once our legs remembered how hockey works, the triangles started to click and our passing improved steadily. Centre-backs Elly B and Ellie R nobly took turns to step up as screens to help regain control and by half-time we’d fought our way to a well-earned 0–0.

The second half saw the L4s come out firing, moving the ball beautifully across the pitch and creating several promising attacks. Despite plenty of entries into the D and a flurry of shots, we just couldn’t find the finishing touch. At the back, our defence were absolute stars, shutting down Peterborough’s forwards with the energy of people who had decided, “No. Not today.” Zehra kept everyone entertained with her emphatic “MY BALL!” declarations, followed by one of the greatest goalkeeping fake-outs of the season. A slow ball rolled toward her from just outside the D, she convinced everyone she was about to trap it… and then casually lifted her foot away to let it in the goal for a perfectly calculated 16. Genius.

The final minutes were nothing short of frantic. We fired shots, their keeper saved everything and with two minutes to go Peterborough made a bold move, pulling their keeper for an extra outfield player. In the last minute, after defending a short corner superbly, the L4s launched one last sprint up the pitch towards a defender-free goal, wide open, calling our names, shimmering like a Christmas miracle... and the final whistle blew. Of course it did.

The match ended 0–0, giving us our fourth draw of the season and continuing our run of draw–win–draw. We finish the first half of the season sitting 8th in the table with a comfortable buffer above the bottom three. It’s been a fantastic start: the team has clicked brilliantly, played some terrific hockey and enjoyed every minute of it. Now it’s time for turkey, chocolates and naps before coming back in January ready to storm the league and push the L4s into their best position yet.

TL;DR:

No goals, plenty of flair and Zehra faking everyone out - a well-earned draw to wrap up the half-season.