L4s unable to ‘escape’ the Liberton wrath

Watsonian Ladies 4s had woken up to a bright, mild, spring morning- the perfect hockey playing Saturday!
Raring to go we arrived at Goldenacre Playing Fields, a fragile Jen fuelled by berocca, vitamins and cookies. We were looking sharp in the warm up, Melissa feeling a cheeky reverse goal was on the cards.

A nervy start from Watsonians saw Liberton take an early lead with a nice bit of skill from their experienced forwards. Optimism and spirit not dampened, Watsons bounced back with some great passages of play. Some lovely runs up the left wing by Melissa, fed by some neatly timed balls from Catie Craig at left back unfortunately proved fruitless for us in our attacking 25. Some strong running through the middle of the pitch from Rowan kept the Liberton defence under pressure. Our own defence were then kept very busy for the latter portion of the 1st half with some solid defending exhibited by our experienced centre back Judith. Some great stress relieving clearances by cool, calm and collected Rozy allowed us some promising counterattacks up the right wing from Francesca culminating in great hassle from Jodie and Jenny in the circle who were unlucky not to capitalise from our possession. A lapse in concentration then saw a soft 2nd goal from Liberton at 20 minutes. We ground out the remaining minutes of the 1st half to leave the score line at 2-0, disheartening and not reflective of our hard work and determination.

Energy levels replenished from the haribo stash we took to the field for the 2nd half in an attempt to rectify the scoreline! Some lovely individual skill from Neve saw her run rings around some frustrated Liberton defenders, unlucky not to be rewarded for her efforts with a goal. The intensity increased as did the physicality! Our wounded soldier Jen walked off her dead leg and battered foot to continue to keep the Liberton attack at bay. Poor Melissa shrugged off an accidental elbow to the face and powered through in search of her reverse hit goal. Hope and positivity still rife amongst the girls we defended strong (Saskia getting a good work out and pulling out some solid saves) and counter attacked with ambition. Imogen determined to get her name on the score sheet after fulfilling her cheerleader role due to injury for the previous few games. Much to our dismay their attack on goal was more successful than our own and saw them slip in another goal giving them a 3 goal lead. Watsons saw out the match with great determination and composure but were unable yield any rewards for our effort.

Not to be our day but a great shift (another meaning of the word to add to your vocabulary Imogen) put in all round the pitch and we go again next week with a double header weekend! We may not have succeeded on the pitch this weekend but success in other aspects of the Watsonsonians Ladies 4s Saturday were to be celebrated- England losing (sorry Jodie), Melissa getting an action shot for her instagram campaign and escaping from the toughest escape room in Edinburgh (statistic to be confirmed).

Big Thanks to the umpires Fi and Alida who did a great job and also to Lauren and her quirky footwear for the positivity and support from the sideline!