Ladies 1s vs Milton Keynes Ladies 1s - Won 4-2

Mom – shared by Rhi and Ceilidh for excellent performances and 2 goals each!
Dod – Cappy – missing the M1 junction and forgetting her towel.

Having only achieved 1 point from the past four matches, the Ladies 1s were desperate to get back to winning ways and take home a crucial 3 points from bottom side Milton Keynes. Pumped up on Christmas tunes, the party bus headed up to Milton Keynes ready to secure a win.  Unfortunately, Cappy’s car took the scenic route having missed the M1 junction and were a bit punch drunk on Christmas tunes having listened to the same playlist four times!

From the starting whistle, Chiswick set the pace of the game, playing the ball around effortlessly and making Milton Keynes work hard to regain possession.  Chiswick took an early lead when Laura Jacques switched the pass over to the right to find Helen Talyor unmarked who crossed the ball into the D for Ceilidh Walker to touch past the keeper. 

The Chiswick goal seemed to fire Milton Keynes into action and they began to create some attacking opportunities.  One of these resulted in their equaliser when a Milton Keynes player managed to put the ball into the Chiswick goal from what seemed like an impossible angle.  

Although Chiswick had the majority of possession and looked the better side throughout the half, Milton Keynes went a goal ahead through a short corner strike which took an unfortunate deflection off Matilda’s kicker to make the score 2-1 at half time.

During the half time talk, Becky Smith instructed the team to put more pressure on their defenders when they had the ball to create more turnovers in crucial areas.  Chiswick acted on this all the way through the second half and were far more aggressive. Forwards, Alex Earnshaw, Ceilidh Walker and Tee Barrack won countless turnovers from the Milton Keynes defence, allowing Chiswick to create plenty of goal scoring opportunities.  When Milton Keynes did try to attack their efforts were denied by some superb tackling from the Chiswick defence.  Jen Romano in particular had a cracking game, coolly picking the ball from the Milton Keynes attack and distributing it left and right for Chiswick to push forward.

Chiswick’s equaliser came from a short corner which took a deflection and ended up right by the keeper’s pads for Ceilidh Walker to slot in on her reverse stick side. With both teams now looking for the winner the game has the potential to get scrappy, however, Chiswick were patient and continued to play their game.  This saw them take the lead through an incredible individual goal from Rhianna Buchannan who took on five or six Milton Keynes players before putting the ball in the back fo the net to make the score 3-2 to Chiswick.  Soon after, Chiswick went close to netting a fourth when Ceilidh Walker saw her reverse stick flick sail over the crossbar. 

The fourth goal eventually came when Rhianna Bucchanan saw her short corner strike saved on the line by a defender’s foot and she calmly converted the resulting penalty. The final score was 4-2 to Chiswick which sees them finish in 5th place in South Div 3a at the Christmas break with all to play for in the second half of the season! Merry Christmas all you Chiswickians from the Ladies 1s!

Rhi…..you wanted as many Christmas puns as possible……..so here’s the team list!!

(All I want for Christmas is) MillieMoo

(I wish it could be Christmas every) Cath Day

(On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me …..9) KDs (dancing)…..

(Rocking around the Christmas) Gigi……………not great but I tried!

Mary(tale of New York)

(On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me….3 French) Jens

Mer-Rhi Christmas Everyone

Have Laur – self a Merry Little Christmas

(We wish you a merry Christmas and a) Cappy (new year)

(Away in a ) Crane(ger)

O Come all (Tee) faithful

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Al(ex) the Way…..again…..this one is hard!!

Walker(ing in a Winter Wonderland)

Bex (the halls with boughs of holly)

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