Injuries and illness plus the added problem of work meant another week thin on the ground although we still had twelve players. Sarah Lloyd is now out for the season, Tarnya McKew was taken ill late Saturday and Lauren Richardson was away with work in Ireland. It was thought that we would be struggling with the rain by Sunday but you will never believe it - the weather bods got things badly wrong! So instead of a soaked and sodden pitch we were faced with a dry hard crusty surface bathed in bright sunshine. Early indications were quite positive for us and it looked like we were in for a productive afternoon. After about 5 mins of play things had taken a turn for the worse and it appeared we were now in for another frustrating start. This proved to be the case as once again we encouraged the opposition to gain confidence and take control of the game. After 15 mins the inevitable happened and Stevenage opened the scoring. One of their forwards found space and time on the edge of our box and drilled the ball past Nikki. Undisturbed by this we continued to make things hard for ourselves and 10 min later conceded a second goal. Caught out by another swift attack we managed to defend quite well and give away a corner. From the corner they delivered a good ball into our six yard box and won the ball with a good header to make it 2-0. It seems customary now that we give teams a two goal start and then think about trying to claw things back. This we started in the 30th min when Mel Stickland picked up the ball beat two players and lobbed the keeper. For the remainder of the half we were now competing and wrestling the game back from Stevenage without causing them any serious problems. Half-Time: 2-1 The second half started as the first had finished with us holding the slight advantage. Although we probably had the upper hand it must be said that Stevenage were copping reasonably comfortably with play. We then had a period of play that had a very distinctively end of season feel about it. Although that feeling was never far away it did look as if Stevenage were happy with what they had a confident they could hold on to it. The time was eating away and they to be fair looked more than comfortable with things. The referee was not covering himself with glory and frustrating both sides. Stevenage were awarded a free kick on the edge of our box and lined up to add to their goal tally. One player dummied to take the kick at which point our wall broke to charge down the ball. By the time they actually played the ball our players were within 3 yards of the ball. You would think the kick would be retaken but no, play was allowed to continue with us winning the ball and launching a counter attack from which we nearly scored. Stevenage players continued to question the decision with one close to being cautioned. Stevenage made their three substitutions and then suffered an injury resulting in the player having to retire. With them now down to ten players we changed from our 4-4-2 formation to a more attacking 3-5-2 option. Paula Graham was withdrawn from the back four and Sophie Barham introduced to play just off the front two. With about 10 mins to play we thought at least a draw was possible. The referee had other ideas as he brought the game to a very premature end and I do mean very premature. This left several of the girls extremely frustrated at being denied the chance of salvaging something. Even Dave the Stevenage boss was surprised at the early conclusion. Having had time to let things settle perhaps we should focus on not giving ourselves a mountain to climb rather than running out of time trying to correct things! Full-Time: 2-1 (Stickland) Player of the Match: Kate Steed Squad: Scott, Taylor, Parker, Graham (Barham), Whittingstall, Hadley, Steed, Roach, Yarnton, Stickland, Jones.