We had our penultimate game of the season on the 12th of March, away at Spencer. With it being a full day of hockey nationwide, with lots of junior games as well as county and London games, I had doubts we would be able to field a team, but the Under 16 Girls showed up in full force, having one of our biggest squads to date (16 players!!).

Although there was numerous injuries and illness floating around the girls were excited to play our last development game of the season. A quick warm up was had, which mainly consisted of complaints about how big the pitch looked, and we were then ready to play.

The first 10 minutes or so was very equal, with both teams having attacking opportunities, which put goalkeeper Maria to the test early on. However, the girls started to get into the swing of things after this. We went 1-0 up and this gave the girls the confidence we needed. Some lovely passages of play occurred, with us utilising our solid defense through back balls and high transfers. Our short corners that we have practiced were put to good use, enabling us to go 2-0 up.

At half time, we had a chat about playing till the whistle and not giving up in 50/50 situations, which was critical due to the lack of whistle blowing! The girls continued to show high spirits and we had a lot of cheering from the parents on the side lines as we went out for the second half.

The second half consisted of lots of attacking opportunities for the girls. Nina's reverse stick was put to show, along with midfielders such as Carla and Isla creating great overloads. Imogen was able to show of her stick skills and give balls into space for Mia, Sophie and Fran to run onto. This enabled us to score another 3 goals and end the game 5-0 up.

The girls proved this weekend how much of a tight nit squad they are and celebrated the win together. With one final game on the 26th against THD, it looks very promising that we will qualify for the finals!