Ladies 1st XI Vs Long Sutton 1

Pelicans Ladies 1sts v Long Sutton Ladies 1sts

February 9th 2019 at Long Sutton Hockey Club.

Team – Atlanta Stevenson (GK), Tracy Bower, Laura Tea (Capt.), Nic Lankfer, Ellie Burt, Suzi Lemon, Lucy Lim, Mia Moore, Poppy Beales, Grace Carrier, Gabby Stilgoe, Annabelle Brown and Holly Nash.

Pelicans travelled to Long Sutton on a mild winter day made colder by a lazy wind. The team lined up in the normal diamond formation with Stevenson in goal, Carrier left back, Tracy Bower centre back, Lankfer right back, Lim left mid, Burt base of the diamond, Lemon right mid, Laura Tea top of the diamond, Moore right wing, Beales centre forward and Stilgoe on left wing. Nash and Brown started on the bench.

With only 5 minutes gone, Pelis centre forward Beales wriggled free in the D but put her powerful shot straight at the keeper. Moments later, Long Sutton play a great line ball down the right touchline which was nearly collected by the right winger who makes ground before passing accurately to top D where the waiting centre forward slots accurately into the right corner. A well worked gaol and Long Sutton deservedly 1-0 up.

Pelicans rally and win a short corner which is injected to Tea, slipped to Beales, her shot hitting a Sutton foot wining a second short. Injected to Tea and her powerful strike is called high and dangerous, Pelicans press in the Sutton 16 yard hit and drive into the D to win a further short corner. A straight strike from Beales again finds a foot and Peli’s line up for a 4th short – injected to Tea, slipped to Beales, powerful shot on the reverse just wide. Shortly afterwards, Beales breaks free and drives into the D, her shot drawing a fine save from the keeper.

Pelicans continue to press forward from the defensive fulcrum of Bower and Lankfer, with Carrier combining a strong defensive shift with occasional driving runs forward and good linking play with Burt, Lemon and Lim, who’s work rate was huge throughout the match. Brown came off the bench to bring her usual wizardry to midfield. Moore and Stilgoe on either wing were showing their pace and control, ably augmented by Nash from the bench and were pinging crosses into centre forward Beales, who was marked touch tight throughout the match. The tussle between Beales and her young marker regularly drew the umpires attention with Beales twice warned for her physical play which was perhaps balanced by a green card for her marker for persistent offending.

A powerful pass forward from Tea was met by Beales with an open stick, the ball looping over the Sutton defence and into their D where the alert Mia Moore neatly collected, rounded the keeper and scored. A great opportunist gaol from Moore which topped off a fine performance. 1-1

With half time looming, Sutton won a short corner, a booming strike drawing a fine save followed by two more scrambling saves from rebounds – great play from Stevenson in the Pelicans goal. Sutton press in the 16 yard hit, gain possession and manage to get the ball into the Pelicans D where it’s bundled home. 2-1 to Long Sutton on the stroke of half time.

The second half see-saws back and forth with neither team in the ascendency until Pelicans force home what they think is the equaliser on the stroke of full time but rightly disallowed for an infringement blown before the ball crossed the line. Full time score – 2-1 to Long Sutton.

One point of note was Pelicans being penalised 4 times when injecting a short corner – for having a foot on the pitch. This appears to be a misreading of rule 13.3d which states “the attacker taking the push or hit from the back line must have at least one foot outside the field”. The experienced Long Sutton keeper was clear during the match that the penalty was wrong and certainly it will be clear in future. Generally, the umpires tried hard to play advantage and were at pains to speak to players about discipline and their playing of the game. As we all know, umpiring is a difficult and often thankless task!

POM – Lucy Lim/Mia Moore.