Ladies 5's v Lymm 4's Sat 18th January 2014 - Match Report

Timperley Ladies 5’s beat local rivals Lymm 3-1

Following the 4-0 triumph over Alderley Edge, the 5’s were aiming to recreate that brilliant performance and result again against Lymm - but this time we had no Shelagh to direct us! Suzy stepped up to the role and organised everyone well in a difficult situation which involved us having no goalkeeper as Olivia was stuck in traffic on her way back from a match in Blackpool!

Luckily, we had Helen Judd back at the back, and we started with her dropping deep to sweeper on account of our missing keeper! After a tribute to our missing captain with a pre-match “1,2,3, Shelagh!” chant, we got the first half underway.

Everyone defended as a unit, working hard to keep the ball clear of the ‘D’ and protect our open goal. The whole team worked together and got behind the ball, supporting each other and running back with determination despite having no substitute!

Lymm took advantage of our absent keeper and managed to get past our resilient defence and score the first goal of the game. We kept our heads up and pushed on, never letting the score line get to us and remaining enthusiastic and energetic - even when we had to defend a penalty corner without a goalie! (Credit to Ellie for agreeing to come back and be our 5th player behind the line). We managed to keep the ball away from the goal, and soon after Suzy equalised from a short corner to take us into half time at 1-1 - although after a fantastic run by Erin we were unlucky not to be 2-1 up, but her shot inched past the post.

The hard work from the first half had certainly paid off and the performance had been excellent, with great movement off the ball and communication to help each other, and good transfers and moves up the wings. When we lost the ball we pressed well and worked hard to retain possession - particularly Angela on the left and Lauren on the right who never stopped running! There were great contributions from everyone: again Mimi stepped up to strike a short corner in the first half when we needed her, Suzy and Juddy kept us disciplined and organised from the back and guarded our goal, and Ellie tried out playing as a centre mid and did extremely well.

Finally, Olivia arrived and managed to get kitted up in time to start the second half, so we had the boost of having a keeper, and again wanted to beat Lymm from a draw at half time as we did last time we played them.

After another “1,2,3, Shelagh!” the second half began and we continued to put the pressure on. Erin scored to put us 2-1 up and we carried on without losing focus.

The game was tight second half, with Olivia making a few good saves to maintain our lead as well as some great defending from Sue, Helen and Lauren at the back and cracking clearances from Suzy!

Both teams kept fighting and each had chances in what was turning out to be a tense last 10 minutes.

As the game neared its end, we were under pressure and Lymm kept coming and coming, but our defence stayed strong and kept them out. We got a break up the pitch and Grace won a short corner. Angela injected and perfectly set up Suzy for a smashing strike to seal the win 3-1 and secure the 3 points for Timperley.

It was a well-deserved win with every player putting in a good performance and an excellent work rate from everybody, playing with and for each other and using movement and anticipation to create some good phases of play and play some great hockey!

Thanks to Mike Innes and Phil Marsh for umpiring and to Sam Paterson for helping organise subs on the side-line.

Final Score: 3-1 (Suzy 1, Erin 2)
No cards
Man of the Match voted by Lymm: Grace

Thanks to Grace for this weeks Match Report