Ladies 3rd XI Vs Matlock 2

MATLOCK 2NDS 3 - DERBY 3RDS 0

Well the journey over was interesting, with road closures at the A50/A38 junction, and Turnditch. Thank goodness for sat nav.

We started with 10 players, and a shortage of twins, and began well. We put in a great first half performance and were unlucky to meet half time 1-0 down. Emily starred at the back, and our mid-field, spurred on by Rachel and Theresa coped well with their greater speed and lower ages.

The second half was getting a bit tetchy, particularly after their umpire failed to award a Penalty Stroke, as Tracy was completely taken out by a defender, when about to shoot. Thus followed the incident against our free running Becky, and how it got missed beggars belief. In 50 years of hockey I've only seen one worse, at Staveley. Sadly this one even went unpunished. From then on the game was a poor version of hockey, with Matlock obviously far less upset than us moving the ball well. They got lucky with a rebound off the post, and finished with a good individual effort, but by then who really cared. This is not what we play for.

As usual the refreshments at Matlock were excellent, but not what this game will be remembered for.

Thanks to Biff for umpiring.

MOM votes : Val 1, Karen 2, (Birthday girl) Becky 4 but won by Rachel (who didn't even tout for votes this week!) with 5