COWHC Ladies 2s vs Reigate Priory Ladies 2s - 04th March 2017

This was our third encounter with Reigate this season. The previous two had been nothing if not eventful, with failing lights, absent handshakes, a green card, a penalty flick, a hat-trick that wasn't quite good enough for POM, and 5 goals put past the opposition goalie.

With the table so tight, Reigate's coach was calling this game a 6-pointer. He was right, though the mighty COWs were confident given our previous two performances against this opposition - these 3 points should have been ours for the taking.

When Lena finally emerged from the toilets, we took some pre-match inspiration from watching the U14 boys game on before us. Witnessing all 20 field players chase the ball around the field proved a good reminder of the importance of spacing. We don't still crowd around the ball like that....do we?!

Given it has taken me 2 weeks to get around to writing the match report, I am struggling to remember the finer details of the game. However the facts I know to be true are these:

The game itself was very even.
Reigate's coach barked orders from the sidelines ensuring his side remained very disciplined. Luckily we had our own super coach Roachie in attendance to keep us in order and match Reigate's discipline.
There were good attacking chances for both sides. The best of ours being an almighty scramble in the D, with every attacking player trying to manoeuvre the ball past Reigate's horizontal goalie outstretched on the goal line.
When Rachel shouts that she knows where the ball is going, she actually doesn't.
Reigate don't like any stoppage in play, especially for an injured player poleaxed on the halfway line.
Santy can get hit on the head by the ball and battle on as if nothing happened.
Andrea gets easily confused when discussing the concept of marking an opposition player.
Our short corner routines tend to be either spectacularly good or spectacularly bad with no in-between.
(...and Reigate scored 2 goals at some point during the 70 minutes).

Whilst we were disappointed to not come away with any points, it was a positive performance which we can take into the final few games of the season.

POM votes were Emma and Andrea 0.5, Nicky 1.5, Alex 2, Emer 2.5, Lena 3 and Was 2 Santy with 4 votes.

Thanks to Adam for umpiring and to all the spectators for their support.