L1: St Albans 1 Reading 5

The St Albans sand based pitch has been a great leveller at times, but Reading negotiated this latest challenge with few problems on Saturday to extend their lead in the Slazenger EHL Womens Conference East to 15 points.

Reading made the perfect start, Becky Odlin coverting a penalty corner within the first five minutes as any notion St Albans had that Reading may relax following their league success, was quickly disabused.  With much still to perfect, and much still to play for this was an important game for the Blues and coach Rhys Joyce demands continuous improvement and provided the squad with detailed targets for this game.

Laura Puddle had an excellent game on the right hand side and Reading created many opportunities down this flank in the opening period as the started the stronger of the two teams.  Indeed, despite the pitch Reading were moving the ball around well and once again took the opportunity to try out some variations in their play.  St Albans are a much stronger team at home, and they took full advantage of Reading’s reorganisation to register an equaliser.  It was a well taken goal, following some crips passing, and an excellent deflected finish that ended Reading’s recent run of clean sheets.

This was St Albans best period of the game, but apart from this flash of inspiration they were unable to create any further breakthroughs and Reading began to look comfortable once more.  It was a piece of individual brilliance that put them back ahead just after the half hour mark.  Claire Kerr hassled and dispossessed a St Albans defender in the D with a great poaching tackle, before dragging the ball around the defnder and slotting home.

Kerr was again involved in another move from the restart that saw her deflect shot cannon into the body of the St Albans defender.  Reading protested that no infringement was given, but no real injustice was felt as from the very next play of the ball, Clare Appleton was found unmarked in the D to score Reading’s third on the stroke of half time.

St Albans briefly threatened again at the start of the half, but Reading soon took control again and the game began to turn fractious and a bit ugly, with St Albans players taking out their frustrations on Reading, the umpires and even each other.  Reading played above it and soon found their passing rhythmn to create two brilliant team goals.  Both came from well executed breaks and followed quick passing movement from one end of the pitch to the other at a pace St Albans couldn’t live with.  Vicky Bryant scored one in the 55th minute and Becky Odlin put the icing on the game with a tap into an empty night to finish another with two minutes to go.

This was another good performance from the Berkshire side combining experiments with some solid play, and signs that their passing is really beginning to flow once again.  Reading have their last home league game on Saturday against Southgate (13:30), and this young side pushed Reading hard in the first half of the season so the Blues will have to be in top form again to finish their home league season on a high.

Squad: Lucy Stevenson, Alice Margerison, Marianne Downer, Alison Pope, Becky Dru, Emma Kavanagh, Lou Gordon, Emily Malden, Clare Appleton, Alex Smith, Laura Puddle, Josie Inverdale, Claire Kerr, Becky Odlin, Vicky Bryant, Jenna Woolven