Derby Asterdale 3rds vs Belper Otters

The team met up in the changing room for our team talk from Captain Rachel who had adapted the formation to suit the changes to the team sheet.

So 1pm came and we went out to play what we knew would be a hard game.

The game was very much end to end for the first ten minutes.

Belper otters came out strong, having a few players with some useful skills and pace. They pushed hard and were awarded a penalty corner after a few minutes. The ball was hit hard towards goal but Gill got her foot to it, stopping it from sneaking into the right corner. Excellent keeping skills!

We attempted to attack a few more times, but unfortunately seemed to get blown up unfairly by the Belper umpire everytime we reached the attacking 25.

With Claire (Birdy) stepping onto the pitch, movement up the pitch between the forward line and midfield was excellent. Emma came close to scoring after a beautiful run down the wing, but the shot was unfortunately saved by the Belper keeper.

Belper Otters got through again but Gill had the situation under control and cleared the ball out of the D.

At half time we were still confident and Rachel, as always, gave us a motivational chat and we all agreed we could win the game, no problem.

The second half saw us pushing a lot harder (possibly due to having a less bias umpire that end!)

Ten minutes in and we were still pushing strongly. The ball found its way to Fuzzy at the top of the D, who turned and pushed it straight past the goalkeeper...1-0!!!

We continued to attack with confidence, with Molly and Christina making some excellent tackles and feeding the ball to the forward line. However, Belper Otters did have a strong defence and we couldn't quite finish off with another goal...yet!

Five minutes later and we were awarded a free hit in our defending 25. I quickly saw Claire up ahead and she seemed to read what I was going to do and started running up the centre of the pitch. I hit it in her direction and she stopped it reverse stick on the run ...can I just point out that this is exactly the skill we were practising at training on Tuesday (we are amazing students!)...anyway...she passed straight to Emma on the right wing who had her signature run down onto the backline, pulling it back to Claire who slotted it into the goal. Fantastic teamwork...2-0!!!

Belper Otters seemed to become frustrated and were keen to take any free hit quickly. They had a number of breaks but Hilary, Steph and Annie communicated brilliantly at the back and kept them out of the D.

When they were awarded a short corner, we were organised in defence and although Belper Otters should have had a chance, we were too quick for them and got the ball away swiftly turning the play back around in our favour.

The game ended 2-0 to us and a deserved win was awarded.

We worked hard as a team and definitely communicated well in order to stay organised whilst Rachel unfortunately had to pop off a couple of times due to feeling a bit under the weather.

Man of the match went to Emma for her excellent determination and energy throughout the game.

Donkey of the day goes to...Emma...cos she buggered off before we could give her Man of the match!

Well done to all who had an excellent game and a huge thanks to the support of all friends and family who watched.

Thank you to Gill and Claire for coming to help us out from the seconds.

And a big thank you to Val who umpired amazingly...unlike the Belper umpire!

Good luck for next week ladies!!!!