Horsforth at Home

In a very worrying trend, we lost 3 players on the morning of the match. This meant the team was down to 11, no subs. If we were going to win, it would have to be early on in the match, because we were going to be tired at the end.

Horsforth are right next to us in the table, one position below, but they have a game in hand. Winning this match would mean we had a nice lead over them.

We were very closely matched, Horsforth came at us strong, but before we’d realised what was going on we were 1-0 down. Not good when we needed to win early if we were going to win.

We kept our heads up, sorted out our marking and kept up the attack. We were getting a fair share of the ball, using the space well and looking dangerous on the attack. We were playing well like we have been doing in recent weeks, using the wings and pushing forward hard.

Horsforth had some fast attacks too and were moving the ball around our players well. We found ourselves on the back foot a few times and had to defend quickly.

We made a break the ended in a short corner for Batley, we decided that getting on the rebound was going to give is the best chance of a shot, so Gail shot hard and picked up the rebounding scoring a GOAL for Batley 1-1.

Back on an even keel, we went out for the next goal. Horsforth however had other ideas and came back strong. They broke through our defences again and we found ourselves 2-1 down.

Half time came and we were happy with our play, but knew we could win this if we kept our heads.

The game continued to be close, with both teams getting chances and making breaks. We never quite managed to get the final touch on the ball that would put us level. Then with not long to go Horsforth made an attack on the Batley goal, the winger - closely tracked by Newby was coming in from the left and crossed the ball into the D, the ball deflected off Newby’s stick and we all watched as it went into the net. We were all confident that the ball hadn’t been hit inside the D. Unfortunately, the umpires were less convinced and awarded a goal 3-1 to Horsforth.

After this, we were all a little thrown and put off our game. Horsforth took advantage of this and we were soon 4-1 down. Sadly, this was how the game ended, and felt like a poor reward for how well we’d played.

MOM went to Emily who did a great job of defending against the Horsforth attacker, although her efforts have left her too injured to play next week she thinks :(

Next week: York

#batleyladieshc #matchreport #lost #hockey