Ladies 1st XI Vs Woodthorpe 1

A bright sunny morning as  our bright sunny ladies 1st XI sprinted out at Bingham to encounter a feisty, active, Woodthorpe XI. Good competition and very able

Captain Eleanor (Rock of Gibraltar) Wallace gave us an inspiring buzz by reminding us that

*forwards need to play wide, create and use open spaces, get unmarked

* midfield to support attack and defence, create and  use open spaces

*defence to act as close to opponents as if they were shadows, link up with midfield.

Eleanor welcomed new team member Paige Cantrill, and also some squad members not playing today but on the touchline in noisy support. Kate (Terrier) Parker who is off to uni shortly, and there were Emma (Speedy Gonzales) Roberts, and Steph (The Wall) Hagerty, plus Alex’s Ben who turns out each week in support and Gemma’s sister Ellie, likewise

Later on our men’s 3rdXI arrived early for their match to provide deep-voiced cheers and “helpful” advice. Much appreciated , especially at the end of a tight, early-season match to generate the extra mile of effort.

In the absence of Elizabeth (They shall not pass) turner in goal, Evie (Shooting Star) Bates  volunteered to go to the other end of the pitch and don the pads. Evie has an excellent eye , and played out of usual position brilliantly,   but no doubt prefers to be in attacking mode. Well done, Evie.

In front of Evie were Captain Eleanor  (Rock of Gibraltar) Wallace, ably assisted by Liz (the Fleet-Footed) Foster. Liz has clearly been working on upgrading her speed to Olympic sprinter class. This drew loud admiration from the spectators at Liz’s catching up of potential runway opponents. Beside Eleanor and Liz was Vice-Captain Freya  (the Meteor) Beaumont  who showed immense skill at shutting down her marker-opponents and preventing effective  attacks.

Then (let us all quake) we saw Jo (Barrier of the Pyrenees) who was not only preventing effective attacks but using her skills to create new openings, alongside Sophie (Swift to :Pounce) Atkinson who was her usual restless dynamo  in innovative and clever moves of attack.

In midfield we saw Gemma (the Jet-Propelled) Robinson working to great effect  alongside Caroline (The Incomparable) Brackenbury in giving playing headaches to our opponents. And as usual, Caroline began to dominate midfield for the benefit of our doughty forwards.

Up front we welcomed back Rachael (the Unseen Raider) Grupping who kept shimmering through ,  and new player Paige (Storm-Trooper) Cantrill who kept driving powerfully  through brilliantly. Becky (Comet) Humphris was her usual restless driving force to great effect in the centre. Her sensational combination sequences with Alex (the Spear) Stevenson and Lucy (Strike Force) Lloyd resulted in Becky snatching a wonderful opportunistic goal.

Up front we have overall great combination but we are now playing in a higher league division. What worked so well last season, after promotion, is being sussed out faster by more experienced defenders. Any carelessness or error will be (and is) pounced upon. Hence there are playing issues which confront us and which we are overcoming  successfully by massive Team effort and raising our game to match.  

We were so intent on pressure, that at one point we had 7 players crowding into the Woodthorpe D (some too far forward) and our 3 outfield defenders stationed not far from our own 25m line, (some too far back). Leaving half the pitch empty. So a Woodthorpe  clearance went into space empty of South Notts but occupied by several Woodthorpe players. Also there were occasions when  our players were out of planned position and often too close to one another,  which made defensive marking by Woodthorpe that much easier.

All this caused multi-pronged opportunistic attacks on our goal which succeeded in making the final score 1-3 to Woodthorpe . There were occasions when those on the touchline really believed we would win the game. We have high hopes for the season, and to paraphrase a comedy quote, we are playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order. Yet. It is early days

We have not quite yet worked out after promotion how best to balance cohesive back and midfield support for our forwards without exposing our keeper to impossible pressures.

As a result of the over-crowding in the Woodthorpe D, Woodthorpe  conceded a large number of penalty corners, which we failed to convert. One reason might have been that to begin with, we used only our main tried and tested penalty corner routine. Woodthorpe  clearly worked out a strategy to counter this, we then developed two more variations, which looked promising but were unsuccessful. As yet.

Every week I try to focus on one plain issue, to see how it fits in to our overall team play. This week it was feet-positioning. The position of the feet when striking the ball is critical in controlling the direction of ball-travel. Keep twinkle-toed, keep the feet moving, maintain perfect balance.  Outstanding players on this aspect this week were Lucy Lloyd and Alex Stevenson who each turned in an amazing performance.

Well done, everyone. Thanks are due to Simon Recaldin and Andy Wallace for their calm, capable, controlled umpiring, to the pleasure of everyone