Two for the price of one!
- Gemma Elsworth
- Dec 7, 2015
- 4 min read
Three weeks ago, we were supposed to play Ben Rhydding. The match was at 10am, which meant an 8:30 start for us. The night before, it snowed. It snowed a little bit in Batley, and was forecast worse in Ilkley. We were worried that the pitch might be frozen. The weather was bitter, and despite trying to contact Ben Rhydding, no one told us about the pitch, so we had to set off. Having arrived and warmed up on a very hard pitch, the umpires called off the game. I’m not going to lie, we were a bit mad. All our morning wasted because the pitch was frozen. They say the inspected the pitch and it was fine but it got worse. I can’t say I’m convinced by this, but that’s not up to me. We did get food, and Ashleigh pondered the meaning of life.
Last week I went on holiday, after hockey - got to think about the commitment table after all! So I didn’t write a match report, I know you all missed my lyrical writing skills for the last 3 weeks, so I have good news for you, today is a double whammy! Exciting times!
Last week we played Halifax, we had a great team, 15 players ready to go and we were up for it. We’ve beaten Halifax in the past, so we were pretty confident. However, once we started playing, it became clear the Halifax had us on the back foot. They were getting the ball of us easily and playing it round us. I can’t fully remember all the details, but we were soon 1-0 down and we were chasing around and struggling to pass the ball around as we’d done so well against Bradford in previous weeks. We were ending up almost on top of one another and making it difficult to get the ball out and attack. when we did pass the ball around in to space, we made some good attacks on Halifax, but in the end we lost 2-0. It was clear that we needed a rethink if we were going to get some more points this season.
Helen got man of the match after having to make some brilliant saves. We left this game feeling disheartened and wondering what we could do to make things better.
Determined to make more of the next game, we met at Leeds Uni pitch the following week with the intention of having a game plan. We talked about spreading out when we were on the ball, looking for the right pass and moving the ball around. We’ve been beaten by Leeds Uni before, they’re young and fit. Usually we hope they’re a bit hungover and we can take advantage of it!
Similarly to last week, we had 15 and we had a strong side. actually, this week we had too many players, Danni chose not to play, as we could only take 15. Danni, I gave you the commitment points anyway!
As we got going, we were like a completely different team, when we’d taken the time to plan and prepare for the game, we were really making a good strong attack on Leeds Uni. We were passing the ball around and letting it do the work, which meant we had time to look up, make good passes and looked dangerous on the ball. Leeds Uni were strong also and we’re making attacks, but soon it was clear we had the upper hand. It took a while, but a scramble in the D allowed Janna to score our first GOAL. We were 1-0 up! determined not to let this lead go, we kept up the attack and weren’t letting Leeds get through, the were quick on the attack, but great talking and covering in defense meant that everyone was covered and Leeds found themselves with nowhere to go. Helen did have to make a few saves, but not nearly as many as the week before. We were 1-0 up at half time and knew we needed to keep it together in the second half. This is usually when Leeds Uni can get the better of us as we tire. A few changes in the field gave the defence a rest with the subs and we kept ourselves fresh. We went back out wanting to win this game.
The second half started in the same way and we were still passing and moving brilliantly, all our subs we’re following in the plan and we gave ourselves lots of opportunities to attack. That’s not to say that Leeds Uni didn’t make attacks of their own, but the defence were able to shut them down and keep them at bay. We were making some great attacks down the right, aided constantly by Sarah who was all over the place. It was a great cross from Tina that gave Gail the chance to score our second GOAL! 2-0 to Batley.
It was during the second half, that Vicky got in trouble with the umpire. Her chopped tackle earnt her a green card and 2 minutes of the pitch (obviously she’s learnt from this to go in with her stick down). We coped well though and managed to cover the marking while she was off the pitch, even having an attempt on goal while we only had 10. Soon Vicky was back on and we’d coped being a man down.
The game ended 2-0 and we were delighted with the result. Man of the match went to Fretters who was literally covering everyone.
Tina and Emily got lost on their way to teas and were sat waiting for Pizza from Leeds rather than Jacket Potatoes from Leeds Uni, it was only a phone call from Vicky that got them in to the right place.
We all played so much better this week, and it really showed what we can do when we work as a team. It was a pleasure to play the game and a brilliant win for us. More like that!
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