Slough 1 Reading Ladies 2
By Reading Hockey Club • Oct 3rd, 2012 • Category: L1, Match Reports, News
On Sunday 30th September, a new, young and inexperienced Reading side took to the stage on the Slough home turf. The game was always set to be a scrappy unattractive display of premiership hockey; the low availability of many of the regular line up allowed other members of the club the opportunity to take the stage and show Slough we are a club with a huge depth of talent who don’t just rely on our international stars. Fran Feather, Holly Raby and new signing Susie Gilbert made their debuts for the Ladies in blue, they showed the true grit and determination required to be a Reading player.
The game started with many opportunities falling to Reading who held most of the possession and camped out for most of the half in the Slough final third. Thanks to some brutal defending by Slough and some unusual umpiring decisions Reading had to wait until the 31st minute to take the lead. Emma Thomas picked the ball up in the midfield and threaded with pin point accuracy a ball onto Jessica Brooker’s stick, with a quick elimination of a defender, the ball was fired across ‘low, far post’ to Amanda Potgieter who calmly fired the ball against the backboard. The work rate in midfield from Wiz Hunt and the continuous running from Charlotte Daly created a hatful of circle penetrations from the Reading girls but Reading were unable to capitalise further.
The second half started with a real bang as Slough had a few moments of attacking prowess putting Grace Lawes under unnecessary pressure; Grace handled the situation calmly and pulled off some immense saves to keep Reading in the lead. Fran Feather worked tirelessly in the full back position making crucial tackles at key moments. Captain ‘fantastic’ Thomas, worked remarkably hard in a number of positions as for most of the game Reading struggled to keep the full complement of players on the pitch. In the 51st minute, a break away in defence found Amanda Potgieter on the half way line in acres of space, she calmly played the ball forward for Jessica Brooker to pounce upon, carry to the D and eliminate the approaching Goal Keeper with powerful precision. Less than 3 minutes later, Reading were reminded that the game isn’t over until the 70 minutes is up as Slough were awarded a controversial penalty flick, which was converted by Amy Sheehan. Reading continued to force the error and capitalise on their chances for the rest of the game but learnt that a high level of discipline is required especially during the closing stages of the game; playing with 9 players for the final 5 minutes is hard and unnecessary! The game finished 2-1 in Reading’s favour, it was a tough scrappy battle but a well deserved win. Next up is Olton and West Warwicks on Saturday 6th October at 1.30pm at Sonning Lane, Come On The Ding!!
Many thanks to Ian Wood for the photographs.
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