Ever had one of those days? Ladies’ Manager Darren Burman must have trod on 34 black cats, walked under 23 ladders and broken 43 mirrors to deserve the morning he had last Sunday. After going to bed the previous evening plotting how to deploy his squad of 13 the following day, by the time we kicked off at 11 am on Sunday morning he was wondering how to possibly avoid heavy defeat with just 9 players! Facing a Comets side who had won 5-0 the previous week would have been tricky enough with a full side, but the odds were now heavily stacked against us thanks to 4 drop-outs in the early hours of Sunday. An innovative 4-3-1 formation was adopted, with Laura in goal and new arrival Francine left to forage alone up front and help out in midfield when they had the ball – which was a lot!

With Scotty outstanding in defence and Laura commanding in goal, it was nevertheless about 25 minutes before Comets made the breakthrough. But then, as we approached half-time, Darren’s gremlins raised their ugly heads again. Leah H went down in a heap clutching her knee with what turned out to be a torn ACL – a really nasty injury which will keep her out for the rest of the season. Get well soon Leah! Down to 8, and then Comets benefited from a lucky ricochet off a post after a great save from Laura to go in at half-time 2-0 up.

Half-time discussions were sadly focused on how to keep the score down, though it was always going to be hard as the players inevitably tired from their efforts. Sure enough, the goals started to mount up, as did the injuries. Emma was forced off with a turned ankle, and Nic couldn’t carry on after taking a knock to her hip earlier in the game. Those of you blessed with high-functioning mathematics skills will now have calculated that we were down to 6 players – and thus the game had to be abandoned with the score at 7-0.

A truly awful morning and a traumatic experience for Darren and the 9 team members who gave everything to try and salvage a result. A difficult start to the season but nothing that can’t be overcome with everyone pulling together and making themselves available whenever possible. Come on Ladies!