Ladies v London Academical Report

LADIES MATCH REPORT 24TH MARCH 2019
LOST 1-7 v LONDON ACADEMICALS (1-3 HT)
GOAL: Kat Percival
ASSIST: Kayleigh Hobbs
PoM: Hannah Lovell

Report by Andy Proudfoot

With the Rosslyn Park Rugby School 7s occupying almost every square metre of grass in south-west London, the Ladies found themselves with an unfamiliar kick-off time in an unfamiliar location last Sunday morning. Exiled to a Council pitch in Morden, pre-match fears of a surface resembling the Sea of Tranquillity populated by scavenging hyenas proved unfounded as the sunshine bathed the ground in a warm glow, birds tweeted and patches of mud were heavily outnumbered by blades of grass. What could possibly go wrong?
The usual pre-match chaos duly ensued, with Lauren’s GPS sending her to darkest Wallington, delaying her arrival, and the mystery ‘keeper failing to turn up at all. Although starting with 10, we almost had to complete an urgent Match Day Registration for Nic’s daughter, who refused to be separated from her Mum until distracted with Nic’s mobile phone, presumably playing old Wandsworth Borough videos on You Tube. Modern life right there.
With Graham absent I found myself pressed into service as the club assistant referee (lino to you and me) and patiently received my instructions from the referee, who politely removed his sunglasses to speak to me. He seemed singularly unimpressed when I informed him I was a (lapsed) qualified referee, opining that he would be a rich man if he had a £1 for every time he’d heard that. Hmm. Nevertheless, I was grateful for his advice that I might find it a bit warm if I kept my jacket on. I duly disrobed.
The first half started brightly for the Borough, with stand-in ‘keeper Chloe pouncing on several through-balls by the oppo, Kay and Emma standing resolute and Hannah L threatening the Academicals defence with some mazy runs. The only indication that we were a player short was up front, where Kat soldiered alone against the Accies’ defence. Such was the energy on display that it came as a surprise when we went one-nil down about 25 minutes in to virtually their first shot on target. Undaunted, we were soon level as Kay found Kat (idea for a chocolate bar there) about 25 yards out, who then sent a superb lob over the oppo ‘keeper to make it 1-1. Accies responded well though and were soon 3-1 up, taking advantage of Kay’s temporary absence with injury to score the third just before half-time.
While Darren tended to the team, I received some feedback from the referee on my first-half performance. Apparently he had noticed that I was not always level with the last defender, probably on account of ‘my best years being behind me’. Making a mental note to look up the number for Dignitas, I vowed to belie my advanced years and shame The Flash with my touchline speed.
Accies were quickly 4-1 up after the half-time break, and the effort of playing with 10 began to take its toll. Three more goals followed, including an unlucky own goal and a penalty, given when Chloe attempted to place an onrushing forward into lunar orbit. A missed penalty of our own compounded our misery.
As a difficult season for the Ladies nears its end, enormous credit is due to those who have regularly turned up and given their all for the team. Despite the result and the difficulty of playing with 10, the spirit remained high and heads never dropped. Let’s carry this into next season, when hopefully we’ll see the benefits of an aggressive summer recruitment drive.