We knew that numbers would be tight for the game at the SNHC so the call went out to the ladies of the Masters E grade team – come and join us for a game this Sunday and experience the fun of WM3 hockey. The call was gratefully answered by Leonor, Deb, Margi & Charlotte – all of who were relatively new to hockey or hadn’t played in years – so we said for them all to come on down as it is great to have a bench!

We didn’t have a goalie so Fiona Martin gallantly put on the keepers gear (was that a short straw?) to bring her total games of goal keeping to 3, the rest of us warmed up on S2 in the sunshine working out who would go where thinking there should be 12 of us but only counting 10. Plenty of game time to be had!

So it was 10 of us that lined up against the strong looking Footscray side – their extra 5 players had to shake hands with themselves. They won the toss and chose one end so I chose the other.

The game started off well with Southern United defending brilliantly – our passing and defending even surprised us as well as definitely surprising Footscray. It was only towards the end of the first half Footscray scored a goal after about 10 attempts including a stroke which was brilliantly deflected out by Fiona! With a few minutes to go before the break Lisa Holley was brought down by a direct hit to the knee – so we were down to 9 til half time with the score remaining 0-1.

At the end of the day it was a numbers game – 10 of us (with 80% being on the wrong side of let’s say 35) and 15 of them (with 80% being on the right side of 25) – we were young of heart and they were young of legs. We could only do so much. Hiliary and Tessa – our young legs – did a fantastic job working the ball down to Leonor on the wing with the help of Lisa who didn’t let us down and came back on to play out the 2nd half. Amanda, Charlotte, Deb, Margi and Fiona were outstanding defending. Footscray’s only option was to work short corners as field play was shut off to them. At the end of the day we saved more than went in. I would like to say I starred as the Centre Half Forward but was pretty useless halfway in the 2nd half when I was struck down with cramp – maybe less wine and more salt water for me the night before.

A special thankyou to Peter Binks who came down and coached us – much appreciated – it really makes a difference have someone on the sidelines to guide you.

We all walked off with heads held high and smiling despite the 0-6 loss which is what really counts. Nice job girls!!!!

Helen