| Team | Ladies 5 |
| Opponent | Cirencester 4 |
| Date | November 9, 2024 |
| Result | Win |
| Score | 3 – 0 |
Lansdown L5 vs Cirencester L4s – 09/11/2024
It was a bit of a murky day as L5s arrived at Casa Del Bournside for our match against Cirencester L4s. The match before us overran and as one of our lovely umpires needed to leave pretty pronto at the end of the match, that left very little to no time for a warm-up (I think I literally touched the ball twice before PB). Never fear, that didn’t stop us and we got ready to go.
Before we started though, as it was Remembrance Weekend, all players congregated lined up in the centre of the pitch to observe a minute’s silence to remember the fallen. Hoodies off, huddle completed and we were ready to go with one aim and one aim only – do not concede within the first 10 minutes!
From the off, L5s had more drive, energy and determination than usual and it showed. Our press on free hits and hit outs was really strong and we moved up the pitch as a unit. We were rewarded with an early goal in the first 9 minutes for who else but Lilia, for once L5s were ahead first and not chasing the game – unfamiliar but welcomed territory. Not only mission accomplished, but overdelivered.
The first 15-20 minutes were very much about our attacking pressure, with some lovely passing through the midfield of Neve, Abi, Freya, Agnes and Clemmie up to our forward line up of Tilly, Lilia, Erin and this resident traffic cone.
As the first half went on, our defensive line up of Nic, Bea, Lottie and SJ were increasingly called to action and kept Cirencester at bay, despite some lovely through balls from them into our defensive D, at times forcing some fabulous saves from Livvy. Bea, who had apologised in advance of the match starting citing “I’m not very good on the left,” made that position look natural.
Half time came, Squashies, two lots of Haribo, oranges and “Naughty & Nice Percy Pigs” courtesy of Bea, were consumed as we quickly discussed what was going well and what we needed to work on. Illness and injury hit us at half time with Lottie being struck down ill briefly, prompting a switcheroo in defence and Agnes stepping into the defensive line up.
Cirencester came out having stepped up the energy levels and we saw a lot of pressure from our defence, however Livvy was determined nothing was going past her and kept the ball out. Tilly then stepped up and slotted a goal home (I have to confess I caught the end of it as I was administering medical supplies in the form of half-time sweets). Having sorted out the changed subbing plan, your truly then spent about 10 minutes (or so it felt) trying to get back on the pitch as we won short corner after short corner.
Finally back on the pitch the tempo remained high with end to end play and a few green cards thrown into the mix (thankfully not me this time).
Lottie returned to the pitch and no sooner had she stepped back on she ended up upside down doing somersaults – competing with Clemmie in recent weeks for the best artistic score.
With just minutes to go we won another short corner and SJ stepped up and told us we were going German. I envisaged some sausage and steins of beer but alas, it was a short corner play. With Neve off, Lilia stepped up to inject to SJ at the top of the D, who slipped it right to me, who slipped it back for SJ to hammer home towards the goal and in the goal it very nearly went…..until Lilia got a stick to it, pinching the goal from SJ!
The match ended 3-0 to L5s and our much needed very first win in this new league. The performance has been there and finally we managed to turn that performance into points.
Player of the Match received nominations for Freya, Nic, Lottie, Bea, Neve, Livvy, SJ and Lilia with Bea taking home the accolade.
Brian the Lion received nominations for Livvy, Lottie, Bea, Lilia, Abi, Agnes and Nic with Lottie and Bea deserved joint winners!!!!!
Massive thanks to our umpires Chris and James for keeping us out of mischief. Big thanks to Sue who organized our subs on the sidelines, and to our biggest turnout yet for the L5s barmy army, thank you. So lovely to be able to reward your support with a win!!!!
I was also found hiding out in the bushes at Brockworth cheering the L4s on…..
Next week onto Gloucester L4s!
