Cheam L3 1 - 6 Chertsey Thames Valley L1s

We fielded a predominantly defensive team which meant that many of the players had to wear 'mid-field' and 'forward' caps. We surprised the opposition early on with a few minutes of really strong play but we couldn't sustain the attack and it wasn't long before they were in our D. The whole team worked hard to keep the ball out of the goals with some great saves by Emily Neden and various defenders. Unfortunately when the whole team is defending the goals, there's a good chance that when a player makes an amazing break away run up the field, they're on their own. This is a position that Lucy Browne and Laura Sallabank found themselves in a couple of times.

With the constant attacks, the opposition found our marking weakness and exploited it. They scored 3 goals in quick succession, which left the whole team wondering how on earth they managed that? We couldn't shake the knock to our confidence and the opposition managed to sneak another 2 goals in before the half time whistle.

Finally the sweet, sweet sound of the whistle, a water break and a moment to catch our breath. We gathered around for a quick team talk. How were we going to last another 35 minutes of match time and what could be done to limit the ever climbing score? It was unanimously decided that we'd put the first half behind us and start fresh. Closer marking, more calling, yes that all sounded sensible and doable.

The second half was a completely different game. Cheam ladies fought hard and managed to get the ball on target, it was going in, yay we assumed celebratory poses as we watched it head towards the line .... NOOOOO, one of the oppo kicked it out. How could it be, the goal we fought so hard for, snatched away before our eyes? Yes it's true we all cried on the inside. Lucy Browne offered to take the resulting Penalty Flick, something most of us have only ever read about or seen on TV and none of us knew how to pull off. Unfortunately their keeper was on form and the flick didn't find the back of the net.

The opposition managed a few more runs at our D, but we fought hard. We weren't making this easy, a couple of short corners later they finally managed to sneak a ball past our defenders. We restarted the game and after defending countless attacks we managed to get the ball up and with some fantastic team work, Olivia Snadden-Ridout scored our goal (well done Olivia). Finally a goal! One we well and truly deserved and made all the more exciting because the team we were playing are really strong.