The Winning streak had to come to an end at some point!

Dust off defeat and rise again girls…….. we are the Mighty Ducks!

Despite a motivational pre-match speech from Captain Pamela Dixon, the Mighty Ducks suffered their first defeat in 24 games on a sunny but sandy day at Chester.

Brooklands made a positive start to the match forcing Chester back in to their own half early in the game. A determined Chester side stood strong to fend off early attempts by Brooklands to drive towards goal, with their young keeper making an early save to keep visitors out. The Duckies struggled to adapt to the slow pace of the sandy pitch allowing the home side to capitalise on their experience with the playing surface and cut off attacking play.
The Mighty Ducks soon found themselves on the defensive, conceding the first penalty corner of the match which was converted to a goal by the home side under controversial circumstances. Mighty as the Duckies are, they lifted their heads and went back out fighting.
A second attempt by the Chester was swiftly cut out by GK and ‘Players player’ Alicia Goodridge who was making her debut appearance in the 3rd IX. Confidently attacking the ball in a nerve-wracking one-on-one with the Chester striker, she made sure to deny the home side their second score.
Brooklands fought on, playing the quality of hockey we have come to expect of them. Despite the team still struggling with the pace of the pitch, forwards Cat White and Becky Latham kept attacking the Chester goal forcing the Chester GK to make some match-winning saves. Growing in confidence from their clean-sheet the home side came on the attack, finally netted their second. Goals 3 and 4 came shortly before the half time whistle and it was time for the Mighty Ducks to re-group and re-focus.
The second half saw a different style of play by the Duckies as they worked to adapt their play to suit the pitch. The pressure was on for the home side to maintain their score as Brooklands pushed forward in unison to put the Chester defence under pressure. The penalty corners started to come for the visitors however a superb performance by the Chester GK denied Brooklands the conversion to goals.
Chester got their 5th from a second controversial decision by officials that saw a Chester penalty corner despite a wild stick tackle on the Brooklands defender. Number 6 came from another penalty corner, given just at the final whistle putting the Brooklands defence were under pressure as Chester stacked the D with all 10 outfield players.

Despite what felt like a crushing 6-0 defeat for a Brooklands side not attuned to losing, the score line did not reflect the team performance and quality of play delivered throughout the match. A proud Captain rallied her troops around to dust off defeat and rise again next week as they take on Warrington 1’s. Keep your sights on Division 1 girls. It’s well within our reach!