COWHC Ladies 1 vs Camberley and Farnborough Ladies 1

Pitch Perfect was the theme of the day following a Friday evening cinema trip for some of the ladies. Pre-match talk revealed there had been a lot more horizontal running than vertical running done during the Christmas break. Though having already beaten Camberley and Farnborough at the start of the season we were, confident a Croydon win was on the cards. Let’s do this Pitches.

The COWs got off to an aca-awesome start. The attack, midfield and defence worked in harmony to ensure we completely dominated the opening stages of the game. Our effective pressing play meant Camberley struggled to get out of their own half and we had the majority of the possession.

It wasn’t long before we opened the scoring, when Hannah coolly slotted the ball past the keeper from close range. With the COWs on top, opportunities continued to come thick and fast, however one small lapse in concentration led to a Camberley counter-attack and equaliser completely against the run of play – what a disa–aca-ppointment. Despite this, our heads did not drop. We continued to pressure the opposition, and were soon back on top when Alex secured her first (legitimate) goal of the season, giving Croydon a one goal advantage heading into half time.

After a quick ‘sticks in aca-bitches’ and a rousing chant of ‘COWS’ (was that on 3 or after 3?) we re-started the game, hoping for a repeat of our first half performance. Unfortunately things didn’t go quite to plan, and Camberley came out fighting which unsettled us. Lisa and the defence worked extremely hard keep the oppositions strikers at bay, however eventually the inevitable happened and one slipped through the net drawing Camberley level.

At the other end of the pitch Bryony and Hannah were unhappy with some ‘backing-in’ by the Camberley defence. One ‘aca-scuse me?’ left Hannah in treble with an umpire who had issued 2 greens to us in the previous encounter. Remarkably she managed to escape card free – aca-believe it!

With time running out fast, it looked like we would be sharing the points in a game we deserved to win. However the aca-gods looked down on us and gave us a second chance when we were awarded a last minute short corner. The routine was beautifully choreographed and finished by Nicky to give the COWs a late winner. O-M-aca-G! Final score 3-2 and a (pitch) perfect start to the second half to the season. Crushed it.

Team: Lisa P, Dicko, Lena, Santy, LBell, Bryony, Lydia, Nicky W, Alex, Becky, Hannah, Tani and Rachel

PoM votes: 0.5 Lena and Becky, 1 Hannah, Nicky, Rachel and LBell, 1.5 Bryony, 3 Santy and 4.5 Alex

Thank you to Roachie for coaching and to Georgie, Bugsy and Rickie for coming to support.