Ladies 1st XI Vs Cambridge South 1

Pelicans Ladies 1st Team v Cambridge South 1’s Saturday 20th Jan 2018 at Pelicans Hockey Club

Pelicans Ladies 1sts 0 Cambridge South 1 

Pelicans Ladies 1sts welcomed Cambridge South to Lynnsport on a horribly cold, grey and damp day looking to bounce back from a heavy loss last weekend. Peli’s were without Poppy Beales and captain Laura Tea due to illness, Suzie Lemon (ankle injury) with Ella Scott also unavailable. Aoife McGovern and Amber Scott stepped into the breach meaning Peli’s were playing with one sub whilst Cambridge had 3 on the bench. 

On paper, Pelicans had a job on their hands with Cambridge South sitting second in the league after a string of good results. But, South were well beaten by Long Sutton last week (5-0), a team that only drew with Peli’s courtesy of a last second equaliser two weeks ago. And last season, when South strolled to promotion, their only defeat came at the hands of Pelicans at Lynnsport in March 2017 so all to play for.

Early pressure was all from South who won a short corner in the first 5 minutes which was ably defended by Peli’s as was the following long corner. Pelis started to get back into the game until a break from South on 20 minutes saw them win another short corner. Again, the Pelicans defence held firm and the shot was wide.

Just before half time a firm strike upfield from a South player saw the ball fly into two pieces which caused some amusement among the smallgaggle of very cold spectators. From the restart won by Hannah Aldous, a pass to Annabelle Brown saw her dink and weave from just upfield of Peli’s 23 metre line to the top of the opposition D before the Southdefence recovered and stifled the attack. 0-0 at half time.

The second half saw South with the majority of possession and territory, and whilst Pelicans were still very much at the races, forays into the opposition D were rare. Some 25 minutes into the second half, South won a short corner which was hit hard from the top of the D and deflected high into the top right hand corner of the goal off a Pelicanstick leaving Atalanta no time to react. South had further chances and drew some good saves from Atlanta but the game ended 1-0 to South.

So just one deflected goal between the teams and a battling performance from Pelicans ladies particularly the defence as evidenced by joint Players of The Match, Atlanta Stevenson in goal and Hannah Aldous at centre back. 

                      Alistair Beales 20/1/18 

Disclaimer – this match report is written by a touchline parent who doesn’t play hockey and who usually has a daughter in the team. Daughter ill this week so no nepotism, just ignorance of the game to the fore.