September 2003 News

If there could ever be worse preparation for a game than what preceded the first team's FA Cup tie at Dynamo North London, I'd like to see it. Three out of five cars got lost on the North Circular en route to the game and ended up in Wembley, and we had to start the game with only eight players on the pitch (which kicked off 45 minutes late in any case) to avoid it being abandoned. Add to that the state of the pitch, which must have been extremely close to the minimum allowed width and had very little grass or line markings and we knew we were in for a battle. For the opening minutes that we were three players short we actually played very well, knocking the ball about as the home side seemed nervous and stood off us, only actually getting into our half twice before reinforcements Sam and Ellie showed up. A good move gave us a lead in the 13th minute, Fran arriving at the far post to chip across the keeper with the outside of her boot from close range. The goal seemed to wake up the London side and from then on they battled for everything, and the pace remained pretty relentless throughout the rest of the game. The referee didn't really help either, being unwilling to give decisions for a number of obstructions and blatant shirt-pulling, but penalising some legitimate challenges! We pretty much bossed the rest of the first half, missing two or three decent chances to extend the lead, with their tricky striker getting no change out of Mich and TC, and Terri not really having to make a save. In the second half we really went off the boil, and they had a good twenty-minute period where we just seemed to give them back the ball every time one of their attacks broke up and it looked inevitable they they would equalise. Somehow we held on, their best chance coming about 15 minutes from time where Terri had to react smartly to tackle one of their players close to goal at the expense of a corner. Luckily in the closing minutes we broke out of defence and had a couple more good chances ourselves, saving the management's fingernails further biting. All in all a pretty poor performance and a much tighter game than it really should have been, but in the circumstances we should just be grateful we're still in the competition (and another 150 quid better off!)

The 2nds had their own problems, with both Monica and Tina being delayed and unable to play, although fortunately Amy Neale who'd turned up to watch offered to kit up so we at least had ten players. With Kate Crook requesting a transfer to Buxted in midweek and thus not being available to play, the irony is that had she played for us we'd have stood a decent chance of winning the game as the 1-4 scoreline was rather flattering to the visitors.

The firsts travelled to Dunsfold, temporary home of Redhill while their new changing rooms are being completed, and came away with no reward after a workmanlike display on a very hard pitch. Ben & Brian (Lino) standing in for Andy & Spike saw Redhill take the initative from the start, forcing us to defend. The back four stood firm limiting Redhill to the odd shot at goal which Terri dealt with with ease. After 20 minutes Redhill's pressure paid off with a long shot which sailed over Terri's head into the net. From the restart a good cross-field pass from Sam found Rachael who slipped the ball past the keeper into the empty net. We then gained in confidence and finished a 55min half the stronger side. The second half saw Redhill start well again, winning a disputed penalty after 5 minutes. The penalty was converted only to find it ruled out by the referee for encroachment. The retake was brilliantly saved by Terri diving to her right, which spurred us on to force the pace resulting in Rachael winning the ball on the right and crossing to Nat in front of goal who hit the back of the net from 10 yards. Against the run of play Redhill equalised with another long shot catching Terri off her line. With the girls looking good for a point, a defensive mix up let the home team in for their third and winning goal. (thanks to Paul Bradford for report)

The 2nds started well against Meadow Sports, weathering early pressure to go 1-0 up after Lisa put away a close range effort following a scramble in the Meadow area, but the visitors were level nine minutes later as a longe range lob sailed into the far corner. They went ahead ten minutes before the break as their striker received the ball on the penalty spot and managed to turn Steph before shooting low under Sarah. Playing down the slope in the second half, Meadow already had a slight advantage which increased when Sarah went down after a challenge from a Meadow striker and never quite recoved full mobility. Hannah was also struggling with her hamstring after an outstanding 45 minutes at the back, and Meadow increased their lead shortly after Sarah's injury. We shocked them by reducing the deficit through a fine goal by Nat, Becky's excellent anticipation from a throw allow her to play in Laura whose pass for Nat sprung their offside trap. However, in the final half hour our relative lack of fitness and organisation told and they hit three more goals, one directly as a result of Hannah's injury as she was caught as the last player and just couldn't run, and the other two good long range shots.

A six-goal first half blitz ended Maidstone's interest in the FA Cup as a makeshift first team missing both last week's scorers made light of the losses. Maidstone arrived as a team three divisions lower but are only newly formed and contained a number of ex-Maidstone United and Gillingham academy players. After a scrappy initial few minutes, Rachael opened the scoring, running onto Tracy Kelly's through ball to shoot home across the keeper. The keeper then pulled off two tremendous saves to deny Liz and Sam before Tracy Kelly shot home from 20 yards. Five minutes later Rachael increased the lead from even further out, an audacious lob from 25 yards looping over the keeper. Scorer then turned provider as Rachael's thorugh ball to Fran saw her score low from a narrow angle. At 4-0 with less than half an hour played, we paid the penalty for complacency as Maidstone capitalised on slack midfield play and a gaping hole in defence to set their striker one-on-one with Terri and she finished coolly to reduce the arrears. It took only a minute for us to reassert our lead, Sam linking well with Fran to hammer home from close range after her initial effort was blocked. Sam's second came a few minutes befoire half time after Maidstone were penalised for handball, her low free kick taking a slight deflection off the ball and beating the keeper for pace into the bottom corner. The second half was a low-key affair, and we were reduced to 10 players on the hour as Rachael was injured in a collision with a Maidstone player as they both went for a header, with her eventually being taken to hospital. However, almost from the restart Milla put us further ahead, latching onto Sam's excellent cross to volley in from 10 yards. With the game well won and most of the players concerned with Rachael's welfare the game petered out as a contest without much of note occurring in the final half hour. News from hospital was that Rachael had nothing broken and there were no internal injuries, just severe bruising.

In the next Round we travel to Dynamo North London who beat Hastings 5-3 on pens after a 3-3 draw after extra time.

The 2nds were also reduced to 10, but after only a few minutes as they travelled to last season's Division 3 Champions Lindfield and went down 5-0. Report to follow when I get one.

The first team started the season with a win at promoted Haywards Heath, but it was only the hosts' lack of strikeforce which separated the sides. In a furious first half played on a rock hard surface, we seemed unable to string more than a couple of passes together with the ball pinging around at waist height and more often than not being gifted to an opposing player or hit long for Ellie who spent most of the first half deciding the best place to stick the linesman's flag... However, on 12 minutes, with the first decent move of the match, we took the lead. Good work on the left between Laura and Liz got the ball into the box where it was cut back to TC who hammered it in from 25 yards. Rather than build on that, we seemed to sit back and let Heath have the ball, but fortunately their final ball was dreadful and Terri didn't have a save to make. After a half time rollicking from Andy we had our best spell of the match, and camped in their third for a full ten minutes, missing five or six good chances to increase the lead. After their exertions of the first half, the pace of the game dropped and we were more able to pass the ball around, and twenty minutes after the break a good threaded pass put Ellie in and she rounded the keeper to score. Despite Heath pushing a third striker up in their attempt to claw back the deficit, their only serious chance of the match came with ten minutes left, their striker shooting well wide with only Terri to beat. All in all a good result against a hard working Heath side but a long way from our best football.

A makeshift second team featuring five new faces from last season went down 6-1 to a young, fast Eastbourne side at Jarvis Brook. 3-0 down at half time, we reduced the arrears with a well-hit Tracy Kelly penalty but as we tired they put the result beyond doubt.