Ladies 4s remain unbeaten

Ladies 4s were pleasantly surprised to arrive at Peffermill to blue skies and balmy conditions following numerous cancelled fixtures due to adverse weather. This buoyant mood was tainted when the team realised they were not top of the bill for the day and were in fact playing on the pitch without the grandstand. Where will all our fans sit, mused one defender.

Still the sun was shining and with the usual rousing team talk from Captain Jodie, or Kim Jong-Un as Holly has fondly renamed her, we started strongly. The majority of the first half saw some lovely hockey from both sides spreading the ball wide, making clean tackles and passing the ball well. However a punishing drive from Holly saw Watsonians press into the D and win a short corner. This was swiftly put away by Jenny with a clinical straight strike into the bottom left corner . A goal up at half time settled the nerves for now.

Carly made great progress attacking the opposition D with her trademark speed and skill. Unfortunately her own athletic prowess played devil's advocate when she slipped at full speed resulting in an impressive fat ankle. 5 parts wine to 1 part ice was recommended by her team mates much to Carly's delight.

Borders grew in confidence as the second half progressed with some strong breaks through the middle of the field. A ball hit from outside the D headed towards goal with shouts of 'leave it', fortunately Keeper Katie saw a flash of white sprinting in from the side and dived to prevent the goal. The resulting wiping out of a young Borders forward was purely accidental and both managed to pick themselves out the netting intact!

Holly and Becca hooked up well with Jenny in the engine room and the trio worked tirelessly to get the ball up the field. Young Holly S and Olivia also kept themselves busy on the attack and a short corner was won by Jodie forcing a Borders error. This gave Watsonians another chance to execute a well rehearsed short corner piece out the repertoire. The notorious killer K saw us with our heads in our hands as Jenny's shot deflected off the post.

Play began to resemble a tennis match with end to end action, Watsonians needed to knuckle down. Alida expertly controlled the defence with Zoe, Cat, Lynsey and Anna B working their socks off to block the relentless Borders attack. Finally Borders got a break and a whacking ball flew into the top corner of the goal to bring the score level.

Unfortunately the 4s ran out of time and were unable to seal a winner. Still, a really good game from both sides and we'll take a point.

The Ladies 4s remain 4 points clear at the top of the league with 3 games in hand and still unbeaten! #BleedMaroon

Man of the Match - Becca Parker