Ladies 4s suffer first loss of the season - 11.10.14

PHC Chiswick Ladies 4s v Old Uxonians Ladies 1s

It wasn't the ladies day this Saturday, with a squad of 12 of which three were recovering from colds (we blame the rain last weekend) we already knew it was going to be a tough one. But when five minutes into play Stacey Nevin was sent to the benches with a suspected fracture in her foot from a wayward ball, we knew ice packs weren't going to do the trick, and now we were truly facing an uphill battle.

The ladies carried on however with a lot of attacking play, and with Jenni Holman feeding into the circle the ladies came away with a penalty corner. Yssie Richards stepped up to inject her first corner for a senior squad with nail bitingly close results. A great injection then a right slip saw a shot on goal only narrowly cleared by the keeper. The Chiswick ladies continued to put the pressure on the Old Uxonions and spent the majority of the first half in the attacking 25, however with a quick break the Old Uxonions suddenly exposed gaps and left Alice Taylor-Bennett one on one with an attacker. The keeper was beat, resulting in Chiswick down 1-0 at half time.

The half time talk unfortunately did nothing to change Chiswick’s luck, a plastic bag malfunction left co-captain Gemma McIntosh scrambling to pick up all the half eaten oranges she scattered across the pitch while the teams waited for the restart. At least that sorted the Dick of the Day nomination. Once restarted Chiswick again dominated possession and territory but with another break were soon having to defend a short corner. A lovely strike by the visitors resulted in the disappointing twack of the backboard and Chiswick were 2-0 down. Trying to keep their heads up, the ladies in blue fought hard through the midfield, with Chloe Hole and Carina Carter running their socks off, and distributing the ball nicely down the wings. Kate Cato made some lovely breaks into the circle, but after her third shot went narrowly wide yet again it seemed it just wasn’t to be. Gemma McIntosh and Angela Li also added to the near misses tally, with shots missing only by centimetres. Frustrated groans could be heard from the supporters, the ladies 3s plus team husband, but even with the side-line support the ladies 4s couldn’t convert the attacking play to goals. A beautifully injected, stick stopped (thanks ladies 1s for helping with stick stopping), and struck ball was our closest attempt, but even our goal machine Georgie Wilson couldn’t convert as she found the keepers pads in the short corner play. Old Uxonions delivered the final blow with another quick break, and strong shot, while the umpires had to confirm whether the attackers actually hit the ball within the D, the stopped time and referral established the ladies 4s fears, as they finished 3-0 down.

Not the result the ladies were looking for, but with a lot to work on in training and plenty more games to play, they will be back fit and fighting.

Final score: PHC Chiswick Ladies 4s - 0, Old Uxonians Ladies 1s - 3

 Man of the match: Yssie Richards, great injections in short corners plus some lovely defending down the right.
Dick of the Day: Gemma McIntosh. Keep the half time oranges under control.