Umpire wins SPLASH competition

our umpire Alan was forced to take evasive action. So good was his movement and graceful dive that he has been voted the winner of our Splash competition before the season is over. Apologies to all who were planning a late entry, and to the fun those already entered have provided but the decision is final!

With Alan restored to his full height we got on with the game. And what a game it was, ending in a hard fought 3-0 victory. Reading spent about two thirds of the game in our attacking half, winning 16 short corners but only managing to convert on our final attempt. That the scoreline was only 3-0 is credit to their robust defence, as the vast majority of our shots were, for a change, on target. The first 2 goals were the result of determined scrapping by Tracy H and Trina, whilst the final goal was a cracking trademark bullet from Tracy H converting the final short corner of the match.

Wychwood are a compact, if rather physical team and their 3 central playmakers caused no end of trouble in the first half as their greater speed and positional awareness ran us ragged. Half time allowed us to regroup and refocus on the basics, letting the ball do more of the work as we began to use both flanks more in the second half. Mills and Boon (aka Ant) were our joint Valentine's Day men of the match, earning the accolade for their tireless work in attack and defence. When called upon the defence were up to the task, snuffling out any break away attacks. Zoe was her usual picture of calm in goal, though observers might have wondered if she was actually awake deep in the second half as they made a break from half way leaving her facing 2 rampaging attackers whilst she remained glued to the spot. They need not have worried, however, as she was clearly drawing them in, making her move when the player was committed, calmly clearing to the side for the retreating Tammy to pick up the pieces.

All in all it was a very satisfying team performance, good positional awareness from Liv and great discipline from our 'on-pitch' umpires. Thank you to both our actual umpires, who controlled what could have been a very lively and rather feisty affair.