Disappointing Defeat in Doncaster for Batley

Batley players left the snowy views of Leeds to the allegedly sunny climes of Doncaster this week. On arrival it was clear that the sun was only there in spirit and we braced ourselves for a cold match.

Having had a good win over Epworth in the first half of the season, we were confident that we could come away with a good score.

Epworth had other ideas, they started strong making attack after attack on the Batley goal. Batley were defending well though and kept the ball out allowing Batley to make a break. The first GOAL came from Kim putting Batley 1-0 up against the run of play. After this, Batley we’re bolstered and the game levelled out.

At half time Batley we’re still 1-0 up and had a strong plan of attack for the second half. Then the snow started, the weather was freezing and like an extra team to play on the field.

Soon in to the second half, Epworth made a successful attack on the Batley goal making the score 1-1. Soon after this, Newby took a ball to the left boob! (I don’t think I appreciated how much it was going to hurt and how difficult it would make concentrating on the match, so my memory is hazy from hereon in!) Newby’s wasn’t the only injury, just the most comical, there’s some beautiful bruises blooming throughout the team (like this one, on Teresa's leg).

Batley continued to fight and a draw would have been a fair evaluation of the match which by this point was more Weather 1 – Hockey 0. Both teams almost froze in place as we waited for the floodlights to be switched on with 12 minutes to go.

A switch in the Batley defence 5 minutes before the end caused some confusion and Epworth managed to pull in a second goal making the final score 2-1 to Epworth.

A disappointing result for Batley who were definitely beaten down by the relentless weather, but will pick ourselves up again ready for York and Barnsley this week. The rearranged match against Leeds on Sunday was rearranged again, much to the relief of the still frozen players due to turn up!

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