Hethersett are the only team in the league with
a chance of overhauling Dagenham and Redbridge
for the title. A further concern from our camp
was the fact that we have never managed a win
against them. We lost Tarnya McKew from last
week with a groin injury but had Kate Steed, Amy
Parker and Sami Jones all available. What a
result two substitutes!
The only change we had from last week’s 4-1
victory over Chelmsford was Kate Steed coming in
for the injured Tarnya McKew. The game started
and the single most important aspect was that we
got off to a good start. Nothing could be
further from the truth. For the first 20 mins of
the game it looked as if we had never played
together before. During that period we had
conceded two goals and faced a really tough task
to pull things round.
It’s never a good thing to
give a team a two goal lead but against a top
side it is near suicidal. The first goal did
have a suspicion of offside about it but never
the less was still the opening strike. The way
we were playing (or not as the case may be) it
was only a matter of time before we conceded. A
second goal as well as being disappointing was
at the best bizarre. Hethersett won yet another
corner and scored direct from it. The ball was
swung into the near post and with no Hethersett
player within 3 metres of it somehow ended up in
the net. The strange thing was we had three of
our own players on the post and somehow managed
to beat ourselves!
At the time of the second goal
a defeat and a heavy one appeared the only
outcome. It is therefore great credit to the
girls that we started to turn things around. We
began to have some possession and even ventured
into their half of the pitch! The referee failed
to give us a blatant foul and allowed play to
continue. No sooner had we worked Jemma free and
a clear run on goal than the ref brought play
back for the foul. A full two hours after the
event! We had a little moan and would only
accept the decision if we scored and fortunately
that is exactly what happened. Charlie Roach
played the ball into the box and after some
extreme pressure the ball fell to Jemma Yarnton
who headed it into the net. Probably a little
more than we deserved but who cares the deficit
had been halved. The remainder of the half was
played out with us generally on top.
Half Time: 2-1
The second half started as the first one had
ended with us in the ascendancy. This was to be
the format for the remainder of the game. The
only unanswered question is why as these were
exactly the same players who had started the
game. As said earlier you cannot give good sides
a two goal lead without regretting it. We had
the lion’s share of possession and the bulk of
any further chances but were unable to breach
their defences. Credit must be given to
Hethersett as despite being under pressure only
looked in trouble on the odd occasion. Just as
changes were about to be made we suffered a
couple of injuries. The first happened to Sarah
Lloyd who was caught on the back of her calf and
had to be carried off the pitch. We then brought
on Amy Parker and changed to a 3-5-2 formation.
Kate Steed was then caught on the leg and unable
to continue so Sami Jones came on as a
replacement. Sarah was later taken to hospital
and released on crutches with her season
unfortunately over.
Full Time: 2-1 (Yarnton)
Squad: Scott, Taylor, Graham, Whittingstall,
Lloyd (Parker), Hadley, Roach, Steed (Jones),
Yarnton, Richardson, Stickland.
Congratulations to Hethersett and good luck in
the final against Cambridge University
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