Ladies 1s vs Oxford Hawks 2's-WIN 2-1

Mom – Katherine Duncan (KD…..or Katie if you like!) – awesome game, solid in defence and great attacking play down the right hand side

Dod – Jodi Reddell – yes, we do have geese in England and you are indeed a ‘duck’!!

An early start on the coldest, wettest day of the season made us even more determined to beat league leaders Oxford Hawks in a top of the table clash at their pitch.  After a heated debate about what the difference was between a goose and a duck and having explained to Jodi Riddell that the bird must be dead before you chase it around with a beer can ready to shove up it’s backside ready for the barbie…..we took the pitch!

With Captain Lisa Crane away, Bex Smith fired us up and set us the aim of winning a short corner or a goal within the first minute.  Sure enough, this happened and Chiswick went close to taking the lead very early on. Chiswick enjoyed the majority of the possession in the first ten minutes with excellent linking up  from the forwards and supporting midfield.  This soon resulted in a 1-0 lead when Bex Smith fired in a ball to Tee Barrack who sent the ball into the roof of the net like a bullet!

Taking the early lead gave Chiswick the confidence they needed to continue to attack from the back with Cath and KD taking charge of the wings and putting in some great passes to the Chiswick forwards.  We welcomed new girl Laura into the team who had a great debut in midfield showing excellent skill when moving forward and determination tracking back to defend.  Having set up a solid press and won plenty of turnover balls, Chiswick’s second goal came when Ceilidh Walker received the ball in the D and calmly put the ball into the goal after her initial shot was saved by the keeper and bounced nicely back into her path.

With the score now 2-0 to Chiswick, Oxford Hawks began to pile on the pressure and prove why they had held the lead in South Division 3a since week one.  They managed to pull a goal back when an unmarked Hawks player found one of their forwards on the penalty spot who made no mistake in placing the ball in the bottom corner of the goal.

The second half saw Oxford Hawks have the upper hand, camping in Chiswick’s half and creating plenty of attacking options.  However, the Chiswick defence were well organised and solid, making strong tackles and sending the ball out wide.  Chiswick went down to 10 men when Ceilidh Walker was shown a yellow card for a mistimed tackle but managed to stay composed and not concede during this time.  Chiswick also had to face a number of short corners and dealt with everything Oxford Hawks had to throw at them to maintain the lead and take a well earned three points.  We are now top of South Division 3a and look forward to a tough game against Banbury next week at home.

---