Date: 14/09/20087
Game: Garston 4ths v BAWFC Reserves
Authors: Jo
Players of the match: TBC


Our team:
Lone striker: Kim
Attacking CM: Jenny
Midfield: Petra, Sudaff, Nancy
Defense: Jo/Jacinta, Carina, Bel, Carolyn
Goal: Jacinta/Jo

What a start to the season! It was with an initial feeling of dread that we started our first game in Division 4 as we only had 10 players. Still, armed with Matt's game plan, plus a new formation of 4-3-1-1, we resolved to give it our best shot - and what an effort it was!!

We started off the game, and to our surprise we seemed to spend an amazing amount of time attacking the opposition's goal. Kim did a sterling job as lone striker and did enough running for 2 people. She seemed to go round the Garston defenders like they weren't there! Petra was making some great runs down the left wing and Nancy was doing the same down the right, supported well by Carolyn who played one of the best games I have seen her play. Jenny provided great support for Kim and Sudaff was doing an amazing job of winning the ball and distributing it to the wings - yes, you read that right, we did actually use the wings properly. This provided loads of room for Kim and Petra to weave their way towards goal. Kim and Petra had quite a few chances but the area was so packed with Garston players that the ball kept pinging off them. Everyone was linking up well and I remember a great effort down the right with Kim, Carolyn, Jenny and Nancy all linking up well, but unfortunately the keeper managed to save Nancy's shot.

We were a player down but it didn't seem that way as we spent a lot of time in the opposition half. When play did make its way down to our half, the back 4 were doing a sterling job of holding the line and we caught them offside so many times I lost count - many thanks to Shun(?) who ran the line for us. When they did make it through, Belinda and Carina held them off well and Jacinta made some great saves. We were more than halfway through the 1st half when they finally managed to break through and score. It was disappointing but we kept our heads up and we held them off and finished off the half just 1-0 down.

Everyone was feeling really positive albeit a bit weary, but after the half-time oranges and Captain Belinda's pep talk we were ready for the second half. Jo took Jacinta's place in goal and Jacinta went on at left back. Sudaff changed to a more attacking role with Jenny playing a more defensive role. If we thought we'd played well in the first half, the second half was even better with nearly all the play in the opposition half for the first 20 mins. We had loads of corners and were very unluckly not to score off chances by Kim, some lovely long shots from Jacinta who had 2 near misses when she tried to lob the keeper, and a shot from Petra (I think) which rebounded off the keeper and seemed to be looping into goal only to be cleared more or less off the line by a Garston defender (well, at least that's what it looked like from our goal).

Just 15 mins to go and it was still only 1-0. We were sure we could get the equaliser when disaster struck. I decided to try a quick throw-out but unfortunately it didn't go far enough and before we knew it Garston were racing through on goal. Belinda tried her best to stop her and I ran out to get in front of her but she managed to slot it past me. The final score was 2-0, which is a great score considering we were a player down. However, it doesn't accurately reflect the game and I think we were very unlucky not to get a draw out of it. Everyone played so well and it was a real team effort and very possibly the best I have ever seen the reserves play. It bodes well for the rest of the season and I think we're all looking forward to next Sunday already. Hampstead Rock, watch out!