Potters Bar 1s v Old de Ferrians 1s

6th February 2010

On Saturday Potters Bar Ladies 1s made the journey to Essex to play bottom of the league, Old de Ferrians, who had yet to win a game this season but had been pulling out a number of draws over the recent weeks.

Potters Bar began the game full of confidence and pushing into the Old de Ferrians defending circle. Some excellent through balls from Sue Richardson found Sarah Jowett and Lucy Edwards in the circle but the Old de Ferrians defence kept strong and intercepted any shots on goal.

As Bar were pushing high into attack, any breaks made by Old de Ferrians left Bar vulnerable at the back. The consistency of Mo Gough in goal kept Old de Ferrians at bay with any shots on target being diverted away.

It was Bar that took the lead, via a short corner. The slight change in tactics saw Anna Walker receive the injected ball and pass it straight back to Caroline Stanners who had run towards the goal and connected with the pass to smash the ball over the line. Bar were relieved to have finally scored as they had had most of the possession during the first half.

As half time approached Bar were beginning to become frustrated that there were not able to double their lead thanks to some excellent defending by the opposition. The through balls were easily being cut out, therefore, at half time it was decided that support play and easy passes were going to be the better option to catch Old de Ferrians out.

After half time, Bar’s performance began to drop. Mistakes were being made all over the pitch and because of this Old de Ferrians were having much more possession of the ball and began pouncing on Bar’s defence. They won a number of short corners which Bar were just able to defend however a lapse of concentration allowed Old de Ferrians to equalise with a shot which powered past Gough right into the roof of the goal.

Bar knew they should be doing so much better and needed to play a more of a quick passing game between their players rather than long balls into the circle. Bar won a short corner with about 2 minutes to go, Walker took the strike which rebounded off a defender and hit the post. It was not Bar’s day and they came away with a 1-1 draw.

Team: Mo Gough, Ruth Spencer, Faye Jowett, Karen Lawson, Claire Moore, Anna Walker, Sue Richardson, Jo Spinks, Caroline Stanners, Sarah Jowett, Vanessa Porter, Lucy Edwards, Caroline Partridge

Goal: Caroline Stanners