Disappointment for Batley Ladies in an injury plagued battle

This week, we faced a challenge from the very beginning. An away match, in York, at 4.30pm. We managed a team of 11, just, and an umpire, thanks Kelly! Well done everyone who came, we really appreciate your commitment and willingness to travel.

The first 90 seconds of the game were promising. We were in good space and well organised. Then, the injuries began, Vicky went down with a bad ankle injury. (We won’t mention how you stood on the ball Vicky, don’t worry!) Down to 10 players, having lost our centre mid, pitch organisation became a bit chaotic for a while and we found ourselves two goals down and suffering further injuries to Hilary, Jenni and Jo before we really found our feet. Vicky managed to get back on the pitch after a few minutes rest and put in a sterling performance considering her injury.

Jodi did a great job of keeping up moral and always pushing for the attack. Equally defence were strong and came under constant pressure from fast York forwards.

At half time Batley were 2-0 down and looking at trying to keep on top of the York breaks and try to push for some positives in the second half.

Batley went back on the pitch, reorganised with a positive outlook. Despite the score, we were not being outplayed, just failing to capitalise on our own scoring opportunities.

Unfortunately, the speed and skill of York’s forwards got the better of us several more times in the second half and we were unable to break down the York defence ourselves despite battling really hard. The final score was York 5 Batley 0.

A setback in what’s been a really positive start to the season, but Batley played really well under difficult circumstances and definitely shouldn’t be disappointed. Man of the match was shared between Vicky and Gemma P.

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