2-1 win against golbourne

Saturday November 7, 2015 saw the Ducklings taking on Goldborne Ladies 2s under stormy skies at the Armitage Centre. Brooklands started strongly, applying a lot of pressure and testing the Goldborne defence from both wings with Amy, Katie, Lisa, Bianca, Grace, Katherine and Val all in the thick of things. After weathering 10 minutes of sustained pressure, Goldborne’s super-fast number 12 broke free and finished off her impressive run with a well-taken strike that left Alicia with no chance (0-1). With the support of its wonderfully vocal injury bench, the Ducklings started to rebuild and after 20 minutes Grace took the ball in midfield, passed it left to Lisa who timed the return ball perfectly to coincide with Grace’s arrival in the D and her strike was rewarded with a well-deserved equaliser (1-1). Goldborne bounced back and used their pace to get a one-on-one with Alicia who made two incredible saves in quick succession to prevent another goal against the run of play. Brooklands returned the favour and Bianca fed Grace who fired off two shots which forced equally impressive reaction saves from the Goldborne keeper.

Half-time’s team-talk saw proud coach, Ruth, and captain, Lucy, calling for more of the same, particularly using the wings and letting the ball do the work; Helen noted the need to prevent their ever-dangerous number 12 from building momentum, and Katherine picked up that a well-set press would keep Goldborne pinned down. Suitably inspired and fuelled by a lot of Jaffa Cakes, Brooklands came out strongly with Grace forcing another good save from the Goldborne keeper and Issy playing a great ball in for Amy who brought the ball down magnificently from the air to get a shot off. Val made some great runs to the top of the D, working a neat 1-2 with Katie who was running her legs off to win every ball. More Brooklands’ pressure saw Lisa unlucky to hit the side netting when she picked up a clearance from another of Grace’s strikes. Goldborne broke free but were thwarted by some very important tackles from Sarah and Helen and a brilliant team defence of a Goldborne short corner. Helen’s awesome stick-work and vision turned defence into attack as her deadly-accurate, well-struck balls released the Brooklands forwards. A free hit on the left was fired across to Issy on the right who drove past a couple of bigger and stronger opponents to execute a well-timed cross into the D which Grace put away to make it 2-1. Brooklands weathered the Goldborne response with Lucy and Helen making some important tackles and Sarah covering ground magnificently to get back and ensure the Brooklands defence was impenetrable. With only one sub, the high energy game asked a lot of the Ducklings but their combination of youth, experience and commitment saw them victorious as the final whistle blew and the heavens opened.

Golbourne voted a well deserved Helen MOM.
Our MOM went to Grace for smashing some amazing goals away.
Jess was very shocked to be voted DOD and looked slightly confused....just because she is jess!

Excellent play today with a fantastic result!! Well done