COWHC Ladies 1s vs Cheam - 17 October 2015

Gloom descended after our 2-0 defeat at the hands of Cheam. But I'm not quite sure why, because it wasn't actually that bad. Cheam set out to mark us tightly and did this for the full 70 minutes. This meant we had to work super-hard to find space and anyone hiding behind their marker was immediately punished by the oppo. Cheam had plenty of chances but our defence had a well-disciplined afternoon, marking tightly and cutting off endless danger. Sharon in goal had a busy time, but she bravely kept out the speedy Cheam youngsters with a succession of excellent saves and was a well deserved PoM. Nicky had an excellent game in midfield, creating chances with her strong running and showing us how effective it is when we run to meet the ball. We had our chances to score and I think it's fair to say that our short corner routine still needs work. That said, my air shot was remarkably effective in bamboozling the opposition. Cheam took the 3 points from this encounter but we should remember that both their goals came from short corners and that our work-rate in open play was huge. Well played, Warriors, and we will come back stronger after the half term break.

Thanks to Mikey B for his superb umpiring, to Hoops for his words of encouragement and to Chris for his annual visit to the sideline. His knowledge of the rules of hockey remains in its infancy. Well played to debutante Emma in her first game for the Mighty Cows.

The team was: Sharon, Santy, Chloe, LBell, Lena, Dicko, Becky, Alex, Nicky, Emma, Andrea and Rachel.
PoM votes were 0.5 for Becky, 1 each for Alex and LBell, 2 for Lena, 3.5 for Nicky and 4 for Sharon.