Today we faced Coxhoe Ladies at our home ground. The decision to call the match on was touch and go due to the extreme rain we had over the previous days. The forecast was for no rain that day so we opted to call the game on.
The pitch was heavy still for both teams and it seemed we were both turning up with the bare bones. Our keeper was missing due to illness as well as over 7 key players. Coxhoe seemed to face the same problem. Nevertheless the game started and the two sides battled competiitvely. It seemed to be us that had the upper hand and created more chances at goal. It wasn't until the 24th minute that we managed to convert one of these chances however but what a goal it was. Richardson applied pressure on a Coxhoe defender winning the ball and striking it, it deflected off another defender and came bouncing back out of the box where the young and very talented Turnball came racing in winning the ball and firing it straight past the Coxhoe keeper. A few minutes later Richardson again applied pressure this time towards the central defender, the opposing player tried to clear the ball but Richardson kept a hold of it, the keeper was coming to pick it up but with a well taken strike she hit the ball and sent it above the keepers head giving us the much needed second goal.
The weather forecast was wrong and the heavens opened, this had a huge impact on the pitch and the second half wasn't pleasant to play in. Players from both teams were slipping all over and falling when trying to play a pass. Coxhoe dealt with this better than us and seemed to take the upper hand, they got a goal back around 10 minutes into the second half.
The remainder of the game was a battle of wills between the two sides. We both created chances but we managed to hang on to the lead and finished the game with the three well earned points.
Player of the match today went to Turnball for her unbelieveable performance from start to finish. Coming to us at the beginning of the season as a striker but today playing centre midfield showed how verstile she is as a player. A great asset to the squad.
Overall, a tough game for the ladies but they battled well for the whole 90 minutes and came away with a huge 3 well earned points to add to the table.