Win for our L1s

We made a strong - but slow - start to the game, winning a penalty corner fairly promptly. A quick decision was made as to use the ‘Beth ball’, who fired the ball in for Catherine Manley to just knock around the keeper and into the goal. 1-0.
Quite quickly into the game we realised that we were going to be dealing with some funky umpiring, but we had to not let it affect us and keep playing our game; rolling with whatever decisions were made.
The second goal for Marlborough came not too long after the first. Annabel Ashley made a brilliant run up the length of the pitch, passing the ball into the D for Alice Thompson to slap it in. 2-0. The rest of the second half was fairly uneventful; a few short corners here and there and not much else. There was a lot of brilliant team play between Amy Davidson, Annabel Ashley, Jess Davis and Holly Clemence along the right, providing opportunities that weren’t quite converted in the end and continued throughout the second half. At half time, we were 2-0 up but still not happy with the score line or the pace of the game…
The second half started with Marlborough Ladies picking up the pace of the game, playing at our speed. This brought us many more opportunities with Kitty Cleaver constantly chasing around the pitch along with Fi Baillie and Alice Thompson to enable constant balls into the forwards Milly Dawson and Catherine Manley who used this to their advantage to tire the S&W defence.
After numerous long corners in quick succession, Jess Davis managed to grab a penalty stroke for us, after a brilliant run along the baseline and firing it toward goal where it hit a defender’s foot. The pressure was on for Catherine Manley who took to the stand for the stroke. 3-0.
Not so long after, S&W utilised from our high press on a break leaving us to chase back. One of their key players ran the ball down the pitch into the D and walloped it at the far post for another of their players to tap in. Unfortunately for Marlborough (fortunate for S&W) trusty Beth Palfrey was there for the deflection instead… oops. 3-1.
Finally, one of these plays paid off. Emily Carter-Davies dribbled the ball from a long corner and found Catherine Manley, who turned and smashed the ball into the backboard. 4-1.
The rest of the game carried on without a hitch, unless we count Annabel Ashley receiving a green out of the ordinary…

Man of the Match went to Catherine Manley for her grit and determination throughout the game, and of course her scoring prowess, achieving a hat trick.