First game back after Christmas

First game back after Christmas…January…which, let’s be clear, is a difficult time to play hockey, what with the dark, and the drizzle, and the many, many, many mince pies, that may have been consumed in the preceding weeks. But spirits were rallied in the locker room after a stirring pep talk by Captain Catie, only marginally interrupted by the dedication of a certain four year old drying his hands. Very, very well. Out to the pitch – where the Heriot Horde was warming up to hearty cries from their coach and a round of Pomp and Circumstance (which may just have been in my head), in their immaculate kit, which we all decided was Not Intimidating At All. A quick bash of sticks On The Pitch, and we headed off, with our Chief Cheerleader (having dried his hands most thoroughly) trying to decide if he would rather watch us, or Paw Patrol.

The first few minutes saw strong and determined play, from both sides, but we had the upper hand due to lots of lovely linking up and moving the ball around, leading up to a cracking shot from Heather at 8 minutes in the back of the net. Great play around the field with Kate F, Julia, Kirstin and Heather linking up and dominating the opposition, and firing balls up field to Liv and Michelle. The Heriot Horde pushed back hard, charging into our defence, but Captain Catie shut them down on the left with her Not Today Tackles, Rozy charging fearlessly around on the right getting her stick in all sorts of annoying places (On The Ball), and Kate T and Judith pouncing on anything getting through. In one particularly memorable moment Kate T (She of the Chest Of Steel), after being whacked by a flying ball, calmly picked herself up, sauntered over to take the hit out and smacked the ball most of the way down the pitch. Saskia the Wonder Keeper made some great saves, with great directing from the back line to keep the defence in position and generally On It. However, luck (or possibly eyesight – January – dark – drizzle) was against us, and halfway through the first half the Herriot Horde snuck one in, deflected off a Horde leg.

A quick re-grouping at half-time, back on for the second half, where the game quickly became more intense with the Herriot Horde driving downfield, some strong hits from their midfield causing trouble, and some fierce running pushing us hard (did I mention mince pies?). I believe they scored a second goal after 10 minutes or so, although I have to admit to having been busy watching Paw Patrol with He of the Dry Hands. Please ask another team member for more information. They didn’t have it all their way though, Kirstin, Kate F, Julia and Heather fought back hard in midfield to intercept ball after ball, drive up field, and linked up with Julia, Liv, Michelle and Jodie to fire lots (many? quite a few? Four? Sorry - Paw Patrol) shots on goal. The defence fought hard, the tackling was intense, but the Heriot Horde snuck in a sneaky third in the last few minutes.

At the final whistle there was frustration – the score did not reflect the balance of play and the hard work from the team, particularly in the first half and the start of the second. A lot of great things to take away from this one – teamwork, hard tackles, linking up and some fierce shots on goal (also Paw Patrol, Very Dry Hands, and wait where did all those leftover sweets go…ah, sorry Judith!). On to the next one…

Thank you to Sue Webber for umpiring.