No down pour the previous evening and a glorious sunny morning, again. What is this world coming to! I will keep mentioning the weather in my reports so that I do not jinx it (until it starts raining).

Both teams had 12 players each, so no subs. The initial signs were a bit worrying, like last season, a bit of latergy and lack of sharpness during warm up and before the game started. They were no where near as hungry and sharp as they were against Oxton.

First half. The first half was very exciting and the score reflected this. Brooklands first went ahead, then we caught them up, then they went ahead, then we went ahead and the half ended 7 - 7 equal. Maybe in the first few minute the girls were not as sharp but they quickly were very focused. Which was a relief for the coaches on the side.

In goal we had Gabrielle and she made a number of good saves in the first half and some crucial ones in the second half towards the end when the score was very close. Defence, except for the straight runs by Brooklands key players they contained them well. Most of their goals came from them running straight through the middle (we will work at training to deal with this). There was more talking between players but we still need to up this, which we did in the second half. Midfield helped most of the time at defence as well which was good to see. Again need to talk to each other to better position ourselves and quicker. After half time talk we were much harder to break through.

Midfield. Good movement and passing. We played like a team, because everyone was involved. At times we wait couple of seconds too long to release the ball and the opening disappears. But when we pass earlier then we become much more dangerous. What I liked the most is at half time, Ellie and Elise identified what was going wrong at the draw and they had a solution to deal with this. Instead of flicking the ball in the air or forward (which resulted on most occasions Brooklands having the ball) they decided that they should flick the ball backwards. It took Brooklands a while to deal with this. This meant we had more of the possession.

Attack. When we are moving around quickly we were devastating. We scored some great goals because we moved and cut quickly and passed accurately. But also at times we were walking or standing still. As our great coach Jo says you need to be moving at all times. What I am picking on are small things that we need to improve to become even better.

Overall a great performance from all. The fitness focus at the beginning of the training is I think having some effect. Our girls did not fade off in the second half as much as the Brooklands girls.

At the end we were deserved winners with 10 - 8. I think at the beginning of the game the girls did not believe they could win, but very quickly changed that thought during the game. It was a close game and credit is due to Brooklands who gave us a good game.

Man of the Match Defence - Charlotte Christian. Hungry for the ball, made some good blocks and was ready for it all times.
Man of the Match Midfield - Elise Humblet. Another good performance, worked hard in defence, midfield and attack.
Man of the Match Attack - Emma Coghlan. Despite not feeling well covered a lot of area in attack but also came back and helped when needed.
Man of the Match Match - Gabrielle Wardle. Another person not 100% but came and played. She made some good saves but the most important ones coming towards the end of the second half.

Goals and assists
Ellie Racle 3/1
Elise Humblet 3/1
Emma Cooghlan 2/1
Emma Whitley 1/-
Jodie Pollard 1/-
Henny Wright -/2
Libby Morris -/1

Our next game is against Cheadle in 2 weeks time.