A brilliant performance from the team for our first league game of the season, against a solid Havering side.

Havering marked tightly, not giving us much time on the ball, so we did particularly well to come away victors. There was quite a lot of close contact but we came out from tackles with the ball more than 50% of the time.

We used each other well, passing back intelligently when the situation required. We could, perhaps, have used the switch around the back of the pitch a little more, when the ball got stuck down the left hand side for a while in the second half of the game, but on the whole we passed well, considering the tight marking. We also moved into space quite dynamically to pick up loose balls.

Our two goals came in the first half of the game, the first set up by Cerys and popped in by Ellie. The second was a quick pick up from Alannah, catching Havering out only minutes after the restart. Cerys did net the ball (deflected from an oppo player) another time after a short corner, but the angle of the first strike was judged too high, so it was disallowed.

Our sweeper and goalie didn't see too much action, but what they did do was solid.

I came away with the prize for most badly timed injury in a game - an oppo player slammed the ball into my foot literally 4 seconds before the final whistle. I also just snook a win for MoM, perhaps partly a sympathy vote for the foot injury :)

Post match teas - a mild veggie pasta concoction - were a significant improvement on last season's cheese strings, but they did take a long time to appear. Note to chef: Sophie K doesn't like her vegetables ;)

Any other news? Oh yes, Sam failed to pick up a green card on this visit. (The umpiring was actually pretty good.)

Well done everyone!
Jane