Savage at it again

After last weeks fantastic win which propelled us up to 3rd in the league we arrived at Wimborne, with only a squad of 11, with our sights firmly set on a win. Stepping onto the pitch we started our warm up and with amazing maths skills from Penny Bowen we soon realised that our average age was 29! Keeping this in mind this made us more determined to beat Wimborne as they were below us in the league. 

Within the first quarter we unfortunately conceded a goal, yet despite this Marlborough stayed strong and gave it our all .Katie King and Beth Palfrey, playing right and left back, continuously and successfully tackled their forwards not allowing them to have another shot on goal. With the whole team keeping the intensity high, we began to gain more and more possession. Eventually after endless tackles, Penny Bowen, our new forward, slotted one in the goal and evened the score to 1-1. After the scores were settled our opposition became a bit rowdy and one of their players was green carded and they played with only 10 on the pitch. Finally after a gruelling 35 minutes the half time whistle was blown. 

With a quick and inspirational team talk from our captains we were soon to be delayed by the fact that we were missing an umpire. Nevertheless, once the umpire had finally returned, Marlborough started the second half off with a high. With Rachel Cox the ballerina spinning around their defence and distributing the ball to perfection, we found ourselves with more and more goal opportunities. Wimborne continuously had their sights set on equalising and were very quick on the break which Marlborough had to be careful of especially towards the end of the game with legs getting tired. Our winning goal came from a well worked long corner. Ness Pickford-Smith posted up and battled through their defence to enter the "D" and rocket it in. However after the teams celebrations, we were soon to realise that 'savage' strikes again as Ness had hit someone in the jaw! 
After this the opposition fought back, Vicky Moxham took one for the team, a strike to the shoulder whilst diving down to save the goal. These amazing saves allowed us to stay in the game. Annabel Ashley and Catherine Manley both worked really hard to get the ball up and out of the danger zone passing it to one of the forwards. Milly Dawson kept working hard throughout the game and despite Amy Davidson hurting her knee, her determination and perseverance kept her on the pitch, sending epic balls up the line and eliminating players on the left side of the pitch. Anna Strover was all over the pitch, making some amazing tackles and providing some fantastic support play and was unlucky not to score too. Marlborough kept up the pressure to the end and were unlucky not to make it 3 with some near misses. However it was a very weary but jubilant Marlborough side when the final whistle blew.

Congratulations to Anna Strover and Amy Davidson for getting Marlborough News Online man of the match!