We may have tired legs, but we still have our arms

This was Captain Catie’s pronouncement in the pre-game changing room hustle*. With little more than twelve hours having passed since our nail-biting win over the Tranent Amazons of Ross High, the Ladies 4s were stiff but buzzing as we made our way onto the pitch to warm up. After some quick passing drills run by the ever effervescent Mel (seriously how is that girl so hyped all the time?!), goalie Saskia announced her faith in us after a “good” warmup (high praise indeed!) and we took the field.

Uni spent the first few minutes trying to break through Watsonians’ wall of defence, with great channeling from Rozy and strong clears from Turny and Jude denying them the opportunity. Some lovely link ups on the wings saw solid runs from Checks and Mel and any time the ball went over the line or was lost in a skirmish those wingers took it right back again. Then an amazing ball from Flan tore through Uni’s last line and Liv ‘Juice’ Jones went flying into the D with it to score our first goal in a play reminiscent of the previous evening. The Dynamic Duo announced their presence!

Buoyed by an early goal, Watsonians set to work again. Within minutes a classic Ladies 4s scramble resulted in a cheeky back-stick goal from none other than Juice Jones herself - your gal is freshly squeezed and she came to pulp the oppo.

Watsonians were feeling good at this point, every time the ball even thought about straying into Uni territory it was met by the combined diamond forces of Flannah and turned around. With just a few minutes to go before the half-time whistle the Dynamic Duo did it again! A perfectly timed ball from Flan went straight to Juice and the goalie didn’t stand a chance.

The half-time break was elevated by an ENORMOUS tub of tablet that Jude had to remind her eldest multiple times was to be handed around the team and not stuffed into tiny gobs. Captain Catie reminded us that things were going to get tougher as our tired legs slowed down, and we needed to play smart to keep a hungry Uni team at bay.

Juice took a quick break to refill as the second half got underway. We saw more of the same solid defence in midfield and this eventually led to a whistle against Watsonians, who dutifully stopped and waited for Uni to send the ball back so the free hit could be taken. Except the player with the ball just kept running, and Jude sprang into action to help Saskia. It was too late though, and Uni scored a goal past a rule-following Watsonians side. Well hang on, we said. Iain came over to see what the deal was but it was determined that the Uni ref was sticking with her decision to call advantage several seconds after her whistle brought play to a halt. A frustrated Watsonians side shook it off and lined up to play again from the halfway line. A few minutes later another Uni goal snuck through, and Catie called on the midfield to push down further into Uni territory. Quick reflexes from Catie, Jude, Turny and Rozy kept uni frustrated as they pushed again and again into the D. Flan and Michelle worked tirelessly to keep the ball out of the 25 and Hannah’s strong passes gave the forwards plenty of breaks to take up into our own D, with possession starting to turn back in our favour. Another quick Uni goal prompted a loud statement from Catie that we were NOT going to concede another goal, so that was us and Uni told.

With the score tied and Checks nursing whiplash on the bench from the force with which she had been shunted to the ground, Watsonians knew we had to dig deep. If we were going to get another goal we needed a bit of Vitamin C (u later)…and that’s exactly what Juice Jones provided. Yet another stunning pass from Flan squeezed through and Watsonians were up 4-3 with ten on the clock. Uni kept pushing, trying everything in their arsenal including not bothering to get the ball for a long corner so they could waste our time (strategy overheard by this reporter, how charming) - but it wasn’t enough and the whistle finally blew on an exhausted Ladies 4s side. Another winning team photo (credit to Papa Turny) rounded out a great weekend of hockey, and it was only Saturday lunchtime!

Thanks for Iain for umpiring and congratulations to Kate ‘Flan’ Flanigan for a PoM performance so fire we’re calling you Creme Brûlée from now on! (Full credit to Mel that amazing line.)

*The editor would like to state that despite regretting this nonsensical statement, it made sense in her head at the time, something to do with strong passes to save the tired legs...?