Ladies 5th XI Vs Findern

Date 5 October 2019
Team Ladies 5th XI
Opposition Findern
Fixture Home
Venue St. Benedict's Catholic Voluntary Academy
Start time 16:00
Result W 2 - 0
Time played
Scorers Connie Williams (1), Gill Howarth (1)
Match Report

Note - if any points are inaccurate, it's only cos I was too giddy with excitement to actually remember the details. Please correct as appropriate. Derby L5s 2 - Findern 0 1st game of the season so it's a long report. In short - Woweeee A late game with no match preceding ours gave us use of the pitch and allowed us to have a decent warm up. It was lovely to see a few new comers to the 11 a side game. 3 newcomers, or was it 4??? 1 looked vaguely familiar but it wasn't Connie... oh it was. But now about another 1ft taller and towering over me n Julie. After the introductions and positions we were ready to start. The 1st half saw us taking the ball up the pitch and attacking. Gill and Julie working really well together and bringing the others into the game all around them. Zoe was positioning herself brilliantly on the left. Some free hits had the left forward calling, shouting for the ball! Who was that? Woweee it was Connie. Connie is no longer one of the new players, she's one of the experienced ones showing the others the way and supporting each other. This Connie effect was contagious. Zoe and Katie were also calling for the ball and getting into spaces for the passes and making the tackles. Cinz for most of last season played in defense. The last game of the season she played a half and... woweee how she shone in that role and brought that through to this season, to today. We didn't make use of the right for the 1st 20mins but then when we did this really brought Cinz and Katie in to the game. Ave came on and used her skills very unselfishly to bring out the best in all those around her bringing more width to the game, though at one point she was trying to compete with me for who can kick the ball the most after doing the hard work of winning the ball. Millie was strong in defense as was Hilary. Seeing Aman so strong in midfield was wonderful. The improvement was evident and great to see. The big improvements with Aman, Connie and Cinz were how they kept at it, great positioning, great interceptions, great passes and if they got tackled they were back in the mix to get that ball back. A move up the left saw Connie with a scoring opportunity which was deflected by the goalie only for... well... yes... Gill to take the rebound and score. Yippeee. A lovely 1st half with Jackie not having much to do. The second half Findern regrouped and came back stronger. But little did they (or us) know that Jackie either before the match or at half time went and looked at the D, took her protractor out and marked out the angles she had to cover. Several shots Jackie confidently knew would clear the goal with a hares breath (oh you know what I mean) and any shots on target, Jackie was all over the ball - literally. This half was more defensive but there's a lot of positives in that situation... this brought Millie really in to the game. Some awesome tackles and passing and speed. Oh yes all the youth in this team have speed. Millie's confidence really grew in this 2nd half. She was taking the free hits and self passes effectively, creating great opportunities for Zoe to use her lightning speed to take the ball up the right, so much so that Hilary pushed up the field to get in on some of the action going the other way. Katie worked hard especially in the D and will be goal scoring soon but today was more about facing an opposition with goalies, on a bigger pitch and working round the defense as a team which is what they all did and the ball worked it's way to Connie with a very acute angled shot on goal and yesssss. This was so cool. Everyone was so hyped about it. I couldn't stop screaming with delight. Don't think Connie knew if I was trying to hug her or high 5 her, don't think I knew either. And so the Connie effect got going again as everyone had a whole new burst of energy. Findern had a few more chances but again they were well managed by the defense with great support from midfield and if we failed... Jackie had it covered - yeah again literally. So full time and what a great result. No not just the scoreline but this is a great club result. The improvements in Aman, Cinz and Connie - brilliant. The 1st match for Katie, Zoe and Millie - very exciting hockey from these 3. The support of Gill, Julie, Jackie, Ave and Hilary - awesome. Stuff like this is how the club will have a wonderful future. MoM - Connie Thank you to Chris for Umpiring. Thank you to those supporting us on and off the pitch (you know who you are ;)). Massive massive thanks to those who volunteer their time beyond their own match, doubling up, captaining (we had 3 captains!), for coaching and guiding our players young and a bit less young and investing in the future of this club. Much appreciated. Big Derby Hockey love all. xxx

Name Squad number Position Scored Assists Cards
Julie Hoar 2
Jackie Wildhaber 5
Connie Williams 1
Hilary Barton
Aveline Rowlands
Annie Luesley
Gill Howarth 1