21th January Match Reports

GMHA Team Match Report

REDDISH END LOSING STREAK WITH FANTASTIC VICTORY

The next game for Reddish in the Manchester league was against the league leaders Manchester University. With Reddish's current form far from their usual high standards in terms of results, it would appear that playing the top of the league may prove to be too much and the losing streak may continue. However with a draw against Manchester earlier in the season, Reddish knew they stood every chance of getting a positive result from this game.

The game started at a frantic pace with wing players’ Jenny Plant and Amber Bryden making strong runs down the left and right sides and providing the crosses into the circle which put Manchester under some early pressure. With backup support provided by the halves, Manchester appeared to be hocked at the attacking nature of the Reddish game. Manchester are not the league leaders by luck and they showed that they can also attack with some strong hits down the middle of the pitch which caused some early problems for the defence. Jab Queen Helen Higgs made sure the Manchester attackers were frustrated and her passes out to the wing enabled Reddish to attack again using the width of the pitch.

Yet despite the attacks from Reddish, Manchester got the break through with a drive into the bottom right corner midway through the first half. The first half remained pretty consistent from both teams and neither could break down their oppositions defences, although Reddish did come close to equalising after some fantastic build up play down the right hand side. Amber again put another super cross in the did and it was very unlucky not to be converted by Jenny Worth, who put the cross just wide of the left hand post. Natalie Sutherland also came close to bring the scores level but she too could not find that final touch at the back post to put the goal past the Manchester keeper. The half time whistle came with no change in the scores but you could sense, especially from the Reddish players that everything was still to play for.

If the reddish spectators and players thought the first half was good, the second half was 100% better and the best Reddish have played all season. You could see that all the hours of practise and everything that wasn’t working in the previous games fitted together and worked perfectly. Yet it wasn’t until reddish went two nil down that they actually realised they could win the game. Reddish were unlucky to concede early into the second half as the ball nearly didn’t make it over the line but the goal just seemed to give them more energy. The attacks looked effortless, switching the ball from one side of the pitch to another, the defence communicated with each other to get the ball to the attackers, Adele Lumsden had a great game stopping the Manchester attackers from breaking into the Reddish half with some excellent one on one tackles. Every player seemed inspired, especially Amber who was taking the Manchester defenders on at will and convincingly beating them for pace and skill.

The constant pressure from reddish lead to Manchester forfeiting a number of penalty corners and Reddish finally drew level thanks to a fiercely struck drive from Jenny Worth. With the score at two one and with 15 minutes left to go, Manchester legs began to look weary and Reddish took advantage….well who wouldn’t? The constant pressure and switching from left to right, the strong and accurate passes lead to another goal, from another well earned penalty corner. Amber was rewarded for her efforts down the wing with a goal from the corner. A strong clean drive into the bottom right corner, so fast the Manchester keeper didn’t see it.

The scores were level, Manchester were tired so reddish continued to attack, attack, attack. The defence was playing superbly; everyone knew their job – keep Manchester out. Less than two minutes later Reddish did what they know they can do all season and scored to take the lead. Jenny ‘we are not’ Worthy picked the ball up on halfway, went on one of her runs and flicked the ball at the keeper. The weight of the shot took the ball over her the keepers head and it dropped into the back of the net. Reddish were ecstatic and now had the lead and after working so hard to get back from two goals down. All they had to do was concentrate and the victory was theirs. But oh no, Reddish wanted to rub it and continued to make the Manchester defence work hard. Reddish wanted more goals and with a water tight defence behind them, who could blame them? Manchester held firm though and the score stayed at 3-2. Finally Reddish had ended their losing streak, and what better team to do it against?

This was by far the game of the season. Each player played their socks off and they thoroughly got what they deserved. The look on the Reddish faces at the end of the game said it all. They were so happy to have won and to have played exceptionally well was the icing on the cake. Let’s hope we can continue this form throughout the rest of the season, now we know what we can do (but we knew that all along)!! Well played everyone!

P.S. Sorry it’s a bit long this report, but it was a fantastic match!!

Rachel Dunley