Ladies 1s vs Dutch As MATCH REPORT

This 7:30pm Saturday match against the Dutch As was always going to be tough and physical. We sincerely hoped it would be a battle of the two playing teams with sticks rather than a match controlled purely by poor umpiring. Perhaps the fairly decent umpiring was due to no local teams playing this match. It was good to also see the umpires playing as a team and consulting each other on a couple of crucial occasions.

We went into our familiar 3-4-3 game plan solidly with some great midfield passing combinations and solid defence, from everyone. Aussie Charlotte took one for the team early on with a beautiful thigh stop. Little were we to know that the best was yet to come, with Charlotte then taking a mighty strike in the stomach in the second half that saw her retire from the match.

Play continued up and down the field for the remainder of the first half with the Tornadoes just unable to put the last couple of passes together in the 25 to effectively penetrate the circle. The Dutch managed to slip one in so we went into the break one down.

We regrouped at half time with plenty left in the Tornado tank to take it to the Dutch for the second half. The Dutch managed to sneak another one away. The Tornadoes replied with a goal from Chris that bobbled between the goalkeeper's legs and just over the line. The defence did well to repel a number of short corners during the match but unfortunately the attack just couldn't connect well in field play to set themselves up for effective finishing.

Cynthia played a solid match, vocal and supportive as ever; walking away with the player of the day award. Helen continued to provide stability at the back of the diamond, especially in the transition to attack, changing the direction of play to put the Dutch on the back foot regularly. Sayj continues to grow in confidence with every match and is really taking control of the goal, making some great saves and clearances in the match. We continue to put our training drills into good practice, finding new goals for the future to continually improve and refine our game.