COWHC Ladies 1s vs Old Georgians Ladies 1s - 27 February 2016

A revived and reinvigorated COWHC Ladies 1s team reassembled for training on Weds, following their slightly sluggish performance which ended in a surprise draw with league high-fliers London Eds.

A tough training session put us in the right frame of mind to face Old Georgians, who are currently second in the league. They were exceptionally fast. Surprisingly so. Really speedy. Blink and you miss 'em. If you don't get your tackle in straight away they're - whoosh - gone like the wind and already 50m ahead of you and sprinting straight at goal. Needless to say, it took us a few minutes to register this, as OGs swooped up and down the pitch.

This was an exhausting game. Everyone was flat out marking and opportunities to attack were limited. Still, we went into half time at 1-1, as Rachel's flying assist allowed Andrea to sneak a crafty goal. We clung on and clung on and clung on. Tackles went in again and again and again. As one Old Georgians player commented, 'it's not rugby, you know.' The defence cleared endless short corners, the midfield pelted up and down to keep their opposite numbers at bay, and the attack piled back to help clear the relentless OGs attack. We held on to 1-1 until about 15 minutes remained, but in the end we finished with a 4-1 defeat. OGs were a stylish team and we enjoyed playing them - they were fair and friendly throughout - and we were not disheartened by this performance.

Thanks to Rob and Shaun for excellent umpiring, to Sharon, Chris, baby Harriet, Sophie's boyfriend and puppy for their support, and to Hoops for subs/coaching/babysitting. A special welcome back to Duncs: that old reverse stick magic was still there!

The team was: Kate, LBell, Lena, Dicko, Santy, Alex, Becky, Duncs, Lorraine, Rachel, Nicky, Andrea and Sophie.

PoM votes were: 1 each for LBell and Nicky, 2 for Dicko, 4 each for Alex and Santy.