COWHC Ladies 1s vs. Old Kingstonians - 20 November 2015

In the fairytale land of Croydon, winter arrived overnight and Whatsapp pinged as excited COWHC Super-Warriors spotted the early morning snow. By 2.30pm, the snow was well and truly gone and it was just bloody freezing instead. After a hearty warm-up (honest) we bravely peeled off our layers, ready for our latest gladiatorial encounter. OKs scored a quick goal before we had sorted our marking, but after that it was game on.

Dicko's super-power revealed itself to be superglue marking powers, and she persistently nullified the effect of the speedy OKs centre forward. In fact, we were a whole team of super heroes, with Sharon (shows no fear), Santy (feels no pain), Kat (needs no sleep) and Lena (carries an extra boob) (Sorry to anyone who missed that pre-match conversation; it was very funny at the time) hard at work in defence.

Not to be outdone, the midfield had brought along mystical replacements for hockey sticks: Rachel (magnetic feet), Chloe (gadget wand), Becky (jabby-stick) and Alex (Gimli axe). I think it's fair to say that the opposition umpire didn't really like any of these accoutrements. Upfront, the forwards displayed their magical powers: Jo (endless determination), Caitlin (super speedy twizzly running) and Nicky (eternal youth).

Alas, we did not have the fairytale ending we worked so hard for. Having held OKs at bay for a long period of the match, and been denied at 2 cracking short corners, unfortunately the Dark Side of Kingston magicked up 2 further goals to leave us with a 3-0 defeat.

The Surrey Council of Super-Powers praised us for our communication, our accurate passing, our running off the ball, our determination on 50:50 challenges and our highly effective marking.

However, it was only after Nicky's birthday drinks that the real storytelling began. And for that happy ending, we have to turn to Rachel and her tale of Surrey byways and the creatures who roam in the night ...

Thanks to Callum for umpiring, to Martin for cheering us on and to Hannah and Andrea for limping along to remind themselves of what they are missing! Thanks to Hoops (super-power: eternal optimism) for all the positives; we are all gutted that you didn't get to wear your top to toe waterproofs.

The team was: Sharon, Kat, Dicko, Lena, Santy, Chloe, Rachel, Alex, Becky, Jo, Nicky and Caitlin.

LBell (mystical responsibility: the keeper of The Book) already knows that PoM votes were: 1 each for Rachel, Santy and Chloe, 2 for Becky, 3.5 for Alex and 5.5 for Dicko & her superglue marking.