Ladies 1st XI go down in opening Midlands fixture at Cannock

Cannock 2nd XI 3 - 1 Derby 1st XI

Saturdays opening Midlands fixture saw us come up against the title favourites in the early morning start.

With the loss Thursday night of both Tash and Jenny our forward / midfield change options were a little thin but once again Ruth stepped in to fill the void.

Within the opening minutes it was apparent just how much the change from our own pitch onto the International Standard waterbase was going to be a factor. Cannock used the bouncing ball to great effect causing us tremendous problems in trying to control the ball and continually turning over possesion.

The skill of our opponents was fantastic as the ball pace and movement left us chasing shadows time and time again and despite great efforts from all our players we were just 2nd best in the 1st half and Cannock deservedly went in at ½ time 2-0 up. But the balance of play certainly wasn’t that one sided with Derby having more than their fair share of possession. But it was Cannock that scored their 1st from a PC and the 2nd just before ½ time from an error in marking at the back post as the right wing swept in un marked to score the easiest of goals.

Just before the ½ we also lost Helena to a knee injury and had to look to re-shuffle if we were to get back into the match.

Putting Taran to right half was the key to a great start to the second period as time and time again we put Cannock under pressure.

We found our fight and were unlucky not to get back into the match as within 5 mins of the re-start Kath drove at the Cannock defence and despite some very robust challenges managed to get inside the ‘D’, as the keeper came out she squeezed her shot over the diving keeper only to see the sweeper clear the ball off the line.

But this can be a cruel game as Cannock went straight up the other end, forced a PC and scored their 3rd to put the game away.

We are nothing though if not stubborn and kept going with even more determination. A succession of attacks from Taran down the right eventually forced its reward as she found the foot of the defender inside the area to give us the PC.

With the pitch playing its part in the difficulty on control of our previous corners, Marie reverted to the straight strike call, the ball came out and Anna crashed her shot passed the advancing defence only for the heartbreak of seeing it bounce back off the post with all beaten, from the resulting melee another corner was awarded though.

Again it was Anna with the straight strike, this time though it was an absolutely unstoppable pile driver that dipped superbly to give us the reward we deserved as the ball crashed against the back board, giving Anna her 1st of the season in Midlands.

Time was however against us and Cannock ran out winners 3-1.

Overview

We competed very well today particularly in the 2nd half which was pleasing to see. If you look at the game closely though Cannock scored from 3 of only 6 attempts on goal today, we had opportunities, hit the post and a goal line clearance, it could have ended so differently.

The pitch certainly was a factor in the result but nothing should be taken away from the very good Cannock team. What was interesting to hear from the girls after the game was their belief that we can beat teams like this and you know what – they are right we can.

The biggest lesson from today however was that if you turn the ball over as much as we did today and don’t get your passes away early enough, you will get punished by the top sides. But we won’t play a better team in our league this season than our opponents today.

Overall a good performance with plenty of positives, Amanda at RB didn’t put a foot wrong, Tarans move to Midfield showed possibly her best 35 mins of Hockey for some time, the whole midfield unit remained solid and Marie at the back was exceptional.

Todays Stats

Goals

Anna Neilson (PC)


Cards

NIL

MOM: Marie – Kath (tied result)