Womens 4s vs IES W2

The last game of the season and the women knew a win would give them the league title. The occasion was not let down by the weather with a typical day down at Weybread (hail, wind, rain and sunshine).

Magpies were very quick out of the blocks, passing the ball around with confidence finishing with Angie feeding the ball through to Lila to score a great first goal (1-0). IES however were not deterred, requiring some strong defending from Ellen and Mel and a great save from Caitlan. Magpies pushed for a second goal and came close with some great play and a pass from Vanessa saw Angie narrowly miss. With Poppy, Molly and Darcy combining well through the midfield a short corner was soon to follow and a good effort by Mel H was well saved. IES broke quickly and against the run of play scored to level the scores (1-1). Undeterred they were on the front foot again with Angie finding Anna who produced a great finish to restore the lead (2-1).  The game was to and throw with IES again finding an equaliser (2-2). Poppy and Darcy again combined to give the ball to Angie, who scored a fantastic goal to retake the lead (3-2). The defence were put under a lot of pressure with some great defending from Ellen, Mel and Harriet. This gave the chance for Poppy to pass to Anna who then fed the ball to Angie to finish and make it a 2-goal lead (4-2). With Lara and Lila working excellently down the right they pushed for a fifth goal but were well kept out by IES and half time followed shortly afterwards.

The second half started well with Darcy and Lila making some great runs forward while they looked very solid at the back with Izzy, Mel and Harriet calmly keeping IES at bay. However good pressure from the opposition reduced the lead to one (4-3). The midfield continued to play well with Mel H, Lara, Molly and Darcy creating a chance for Lila who had a great effort saved. More pressure from Lila lead to another short corner, delivered by Izzy to Angie and a great strike made it five (5-3). From here it looked like magpies would cruise to a final day victory, however IES hadn’t read the script and scored with a breakaway goal (5-4).  It was then down to the defence of Harriet, Izzy, Vanessa, Mel H to keep out a series of short corners along with the excellent Caitlan in goal. With everyone back defending and some vital interventions from Poppy and Lara, the defence held out for a fantastic win to secure top spot in the league.

A well-deserved player of the match went to the Captain Vanessa playing in her usual array of positions to help the team. The only player to have played in every position over the season (apart from in goal)

Final score 5-4 League Champions!