Womens 4s vs Felixstowe W1

I’m writing the report on my laptop on the train as Greater Anglia wobble and sway me towards London. I was collared for the report by my daughter as I came off the pitch at Felixstowe having played in a rear-guard action for the men’s sixes. Most of it was played in icy rain and I have since developed ‘la gripe’ as the French say, so dear reader please forgive any factual inaccuracies or grumpy witticism that I try to inject into the more mundane staples of any match report of x passed to y and we all did awfully well.

First the result, it was job done by Magpies. We were first in the league table, they were second. They came at us all match, but we weathered the blitz of attacks and nicked goals on the counter to come away with a three – three draw.

This game between our Women's 4s and Felixstowe 1s was trailed as a crunch game in the Felixstowe mid-week newsletter and they threw everything they had at us. The defence, Harriet, Isabelle, Evie and Vanessa gave everything, and keeper Caitlan was chosen as player of the match, underlining what tough game this was.

First half started at one-hundred miles an hour, so I was told (I was still drying / warming up in the club house). Felixstowe were out of the blocks quickly and were one up within the first five minutes. Our young midfield managed to wrestle some control back and by the time I emerged into the post-storm, evening sunshine Magpies were up in the game two to one. A goal from Angie Wheelhouse, and another from Anastasia Simmons. Angie then nabbed us another! An excellent strong strike that thumped into the backboard with that lovely chonk noise that strikers love and goalies fear.

Despite all their effort Felixstowe were three to one down, but they came out for the second half in much the same way they started the match. It was easy to see how their pacy attacking style has given them some double-digit scores against other teams in the division. We weren’t quite as good at retaining possession second half, so the waves of attacks were relentless. However, it took until half-way through the first half before one of the Felixstowe shorts was deflected in by the right-slip attacker. With the goal the play felt like it shifted to more end to end as Felixstowe desperately pressed for a winner and Magpies had more gaps to counterattack into. Both Issy Waller and Anastasia ran the ball at the opposition when they had the chance.

It was an unfortunate combination of tired errors that let Felixstowe into the circle to bundle in a messy equaliser right at the death. When the whistle went, they cheered, but in reality, it was job done for Magpies, we maintain our position at the top with three more games to go.