Another great performance on Saturday against a team just below us in the div. I feared we would struggle a little with three of our regulars taken up by the 3s and a few others not available, but we have strength in depth, and our guest helpers also put in good performances.

Although rather too many stick tackles and obstructions were let go to make it a great game, it was, nevertheless, a really good game against a nice opposition, marred only by some 'interesting' umpiring on one side of the pitch. I was shocked to receive a captain's green card for a team substitution infringement, which, at worst, can only have been by an inch or two.

The pitch was incredibly slippy in an old-wet-carpet sort of way. I hit the deck four times, twice by virtue of my threadbare astros and twice as a result of an accidental 'mowing down' so was feeling pretty soggy in parts.

As last week, there was plenty of action and pressure at both ends of the pitch. Abi's numerous great saves and clearances earned her our man of the match - a commanding performance - but the oppo GK also had plenty to do under the close range battering from our forwards and mids. On a number of occasions the few yards around their goal mouth resembled a sardine bait ball, with the actual hockey ball edging tantalizingly close to, and even along, the goal line. At least twice we managed, eventually, to force the ball over it.

Our first goal came from a short corner. We had speculated that Scarlet, with her rocket powered pushing strength, would be an excellent candidate to try a drag flick and this was the day that speculation turned into success. It was a combination of a strong push/drag flick, which slotted through a narrow gap right of centre. It skimmed a defenders stick but was too powerful to stop. One to repeat in the future :)

Great teamwork between Sienna and Jemimah led to a lovely open play goal – Sienna claiming it. The two of them shared second place in our MoM vote. Of the close range scrabbles, Sienna and Alisha scored one each.

The oppo goal was disputed by us as being dangerous; it nearly scalped Suzie R, who was only a few metres away from the reverse hit strike, near the edge of the D, but given their decent play, Old Southendians probably deserved at least one goal, if not a couple.

A special mention for Live on her return to hockey. Nice to see you playing again :)

Great stuff team.
Jane