It was a very cold and wet November morning and once again the team came together at the 11th hour. With a surplus of midfielders, Clare Osborne, Jessica Felton-Page and Cathy Tapley took up their positions to assist Catherine Norris and Diane Redman in defence. Diane was wearing her freshly laundered goalie kit and was full of sweet smelling optimism. Fortunately, Catherine had managed to turn her stick into a much need tennis racket and was later able to deflect the high balls with such skill that Venus Williams would have been proud of.
The midfielders Aimee Cooper, Charlotte Weston, Chantal Leher, Stevie Cooper and Delora Coulson were led up the field by newcomer Rachel Carpenter, who had never played centre forward in her life and did an admirable job. Together they attacked and the March team were becoming slightly concerned at the number of short corners which were being awarded to the Ely lot. Sadly the corners did not result in any goals but our presence was felt.
At half time Ely were down 1 nil. The March team must have had a severe talking to by their coach as they came back on to the pitch with stronger and faster legs. This was also when Catherine’s tennis skills came into play as to everyone’s surprise she cleared the ball in the air. On another occasion the ball bounced off the top of the goal, hit Cathy’s shoulder, landed on the ground and then in the confusion made its way into the goal. Another ball managed to ricochet off Clare’s stick and flew straight into the goal. So with lots of balls flying around the end result was 5 nil to them.
As a treat, the Teas were held in the Squash Club and in the comfort of the pleasant surroundings and lounge chairs, Diane Redman was awarded the Man of the Match trophy. Sadly she was unable to collect the trophy as she and 4 others had to shoot off to play in the Ladies 2s game at Cambridge. All in all, it was a well-played match and was enjoyed by everyone.