Which member of the team has a friend in Harrogate?

Never mind winning the game, this was the real question on everybody’s lips as BPHC 2s made the journey of a million roundabouts up to the home of Betty’s. The first league game of the season is always a funny one. Not funny like our latest attempts at goal, but more in the sense of who can hold their nerve the longest. On the back of our emphatic preseason successes, we were feeling pretty good about our performance as a unit and were looking forward to hitting Harrogate ladies hard from the off. Last season saw us just scrape a 1-0 victory at this pitch after missing two strokes (sorry Els, couldn’t resist), so we knew it was always going to be a hard-fought game, particularly with a handful of new players and injuries forcing several of the team to play out of position.

From the whistle, BPHC absolutely dominated the play and took the opportunity to show off with some well-rehearsed link-ups and switching around the back. Alas, having been fended off well by the opposition’s organised defence and England juniors’ keeper, one unlucky break led to a defensive short corner. After a bit of a goal-line scramble, Harrogate’s forward just managed to force the ball over the line to take a rather undeserved 1-0 lead. Though we have come back from such situation many a time before, this goal seemed to really unsettle us and before long the score line hit 2-0 following a much more impressive short corner routine.

Half-time saw us gather our thoughts, have a rejig in terms of positioning, and come out again strongly. Despite many close encounters in the attacking D, including three oh-so-close short corners and a disallowed goal (justified, I grudgingly add!) Harrogate really took the opportunity to park the bus and managed to hold on to the bitter end. Unlike last season, we are quite the well-behaved bunch of ladies these days. That is, until recent returnee Beth Williams threatened to take off the umpire’s head in a fit of rage over a rather dubious short corner decision. Fortunately, the umpire lived to tell the tale and make her merry way home, which is more than can be said for Beth and the rest of BPHC 2s who, to add insult to injury, were forced to sit in 2 hours of Leeds United traffic playing a riveting game of eye spy via Whatsapp.

Our secret plan to lull the league into a false sense of security has well and truly been set into action. Watch this space.

MOM – Amber, DOD – Mel for having a friend from Harrogate. Special mention also goes to Sophie “Poly” Binder and her record time of 21.67 seconds for downing her initiation pint.