A new year, a new player, a new coach and a new stick for Kat, which she was curiously reluctant to use for fear of ruining the paint work.
Debutant Ro arrived for her first game in 2 years, the first since her knee operation and a first game in the south of the country, and whilst she was concerned the rules might have changed, one thing that hasn’t is the need for shin pads which she forgot. Still she didn’t commit the sin of being late, Isla’s excuse being that she had a cross country meet beforehand. Which she easily proved by racing out of the blocks on her arrival – my suggestion that we could do a team 6k run in preparation for future games was met with muted or murderous tones.
This was the final game of the first half of the season, having been postponed from December. We made a pusillanimous start, giving a solid impression that we hadn’t met each other before the game, taking a good 25 minutes to get into the grove, whilst coach Zoe tried to cajole us from the sidelines. With the Christmas pudding weighing heavily on minds if not bodies, we started to put together some phases of play, winning some PCs without converting, but then conceded from a corner that was slipped right at the top of the D with seconds remaining in the first half.
Following a firm review in the team talk focusing on the sine qua non of our strategy, we were much more fired and focused for the second half, top goal scorer Kat converting from a short corner, not the set play that was actually called but proving that a new stick hasn’t impacted her ability to deflect in the red zone.
Tunbridge Wells were still pilling on the pressure and converted another corner, this time passing to the injector to tap in. Kat the taking a card for an anti skill tackle within the 25. Finally this bought out the best in the team, pushing hard to win yet another corner with Bec able to finish and bring the score to 2-2. Despite further chances that was the final score, with opportunities missed at both ends and a chance to reset goals for the new year.

Next: Home vs Sevenoaks 12pm
MOM: Ro
DOD: Kat