After the disappointment of losing only our second game of the year last week, it would have been easy for the team to have slipped again this week as the loss moved us from 1st to third and we were coming up this week against the 2nd placed Waverley. There is less than 5 points separating the first 4 teams so any slip ups are very costly with only 3 rounds to go.

We had a fantastic start and for the first 10-15 minutes we attacked time & again but couldn’t finish off the good work with a goal. Nicole was creating great attacking moves, getting the ball consistently to our forwards & Loren & Coxy were making some great moves into the circle, supported by good aggressive play from Lou but every opportunity was missed. It was beginning to look like one of those games where we have all the play but don’t get the reward & it was looking even more so after Waverley made one of their few attacks in the first 15 minutes which resulted in a short corner & a goal. Alice made a couple of great saves soon after and with Jenny consistently getting the ball through to our forwards we kept creating chances but without the finishing touches. Phoebe was playing a brilliant role getting the ball repeatedly into the circle, if only we could get one of our sticks onto the passes we would be doing well. As it happened we couldn’t & went into half time 1 nil down.

We knew we were in with a good chance though & the half time talk reminded everyone that all we needed to do was to capitalise on our chances, keep up the support play and take the shot when it was there and not to just play out the game, but to make it happen. So we started the second half strongly, similar to the first half with Hannah & Stephanie doing a terrific job on the half line holding up Waverley & getting the ball to our forwards, who were getting their passing game together. Lily, Freya & Lou were moving in & out of wing positions & were playing really well but it still took a while into the half before we finally got the goal we had worked so hard for as Coxy slotted one in after a bit of a scramble. With 5 minutes to go we were still locked up at 1 all and both sides were starting to tire a bit, with a couple of long break aways almost resulting in both sides having a chance. It was Southern though who struck first after a damaging run from Nicole which got her to the edge of the circle where she took the shot straight away, and for a split second everyone held their breath before seeing the ball hit the back of the net. With just a couple of minutes to go Waverley managed to get a short corner which is how they scored their first goal, but our defense held up & we kept them out before final whistle sounded only a couple of minutes later. A fantastic result in what was a tightly fought contest for the whole game.