Ashbourne 3rds vs Derby Asterdale Ladies 3rds

When Heather told me that she couldn't play this week my first thought was "oh no - we need to find another centre back!!"...this was very swiftly followed with "who will write the match report?" It's fair to say I was very upset with Chris for not turning up to take notes despite the fact that Heather wasn't playing so I'm afraid this one will be short and innacurate - much like my strike on goal today....

It was a warm muggy afternoon and the beach at Ashbourne that we had to play on was very energy sapping. We had quite a few changes in personnel this week and took some time to find our groove. Julieann opened the scoring about 15 minutes before half time with a lovely sweep into the goal. It was well deserved as we had been putting Ashbourne under pressure for some time but just couldn't find the backboard. After the restart the strangest thing happened - we completely lost our composure - it was like we had gone 1-0 down!! We almost let them in a few times, thankfully one of their forwards somehow missed an open goal and after some tension when defending we managed to go into half time 1-0 up.

Half time seemed to do the trick as although feeling tired in the second half we managed to produce some great teamwork and passing, many times cutting through their defence with Tracey proving a real threat. It wasn't long until Tracey made it 2, then 3 and then 4!!

All of the goals were great team efforts with some brilliant assists and strong finishes. By the end of the match we had totally demoralised Ashbourne and cries of "this can't be their 3rd team!" were heard.

Player of the match was Molly who not only played her first match for us today but her first ever senior hockey mactch! She had a great game and is one to keep an eye on. Donkey went to Tracey for.... well just for being Tracey - can't really remember why

In summary - we made it hard for ourselves at times and didn't play our finest hockey but we dug really deep and came out on top with a clean sheet, 4 goals and 3 points in the bag. We're still top of the league and we'll be even better next week!

Picture to follow when I get home and get my data cable

well done girls - a good start to the season, you're setting the example for us all to follow. Sounds like the Derby Asterdale spiritof determination is alive and living in the 3's as well! Again all that hard work over summer league is paying off! Lots of love
ali

Way to go Girls !!!

Fantastic start scoring 9 and conceeding only 1 in your first 2 league games.

You go get 'em ladies