Sunshine returned to the Land of the Ladies 4s for the last league game of the season. As we gathered at the green fields of hockey legend, the sun headed demurely down to the horizon, the birds sang out with lusty joy, and we all pelted the whatsapp group with varying degrees of ‘sorry – I’m almost there’ messages, ably won by Jude and her bedtime story commitments. We all bravely announced it was FINE that we weren’t in changing room 3, number 7 had a nice ring to it, and launched in to our pre-game rituals (cue much nervous weeing, tunes from de Sass, and the obligatory comparison of war wounds from previous games). Captain Catie gathered up the various emotions roiling around the changing room floor (panic, fear of spectators, dwelling on the last game against the formidable Peebles, Friday tiredness, last league game blues) and gallantly roused them into shiny new upbeat bouncing go get ‘em determination to give it our all, believe in ourselves, and play to our strengths. Friday night lights, here we come.

Buoyed by our raised spirits, we embarked upon our well-practised warm up, most notably of which, revealed that a player (who shall remain anonymous) doesn’t like to wear pants, and Captain Catie has some interesting methods for drumming up adrenalin on long train journeys. It also revealed the mighty opposition, with a particularly worrying moment when Neve, yes Neve, announced that they all looked ‘rather young’. But our supporters were gathering, and the arrival of the fortunately-now-less-broken Lauren to cheer us on had us all bouncing again, ready for a quick run-down of the game plan (‘not so LOUD, they’ll hear us!’ – we clearly need to invest in a clipboard for Captain Catie to talk behind). Followed by a rousing bashing of sticks on the glorious green, at which point we realised a rather bewildered Peebles were not remotely interested in eavesdropping on our game plan, and were all in position waiting patiently for us to get our shit together.

And get our shit together we did – the first 10 minutes of the game were a joy to watch. Strong play in midfield from Kirstin (she of the charming insistence she’s still ‘getting back into hockey’ whilst clearly being utterly fabulous), Jen (ok, Miley – she of the joy-giving self-surprise when she does something fabulous, which is basically all of the time), Jenny (Coco made me do it…well Coco is clearly bloody awesome at hockey), and Kate F (the beautiful-hockey-creating-wall-of-thou-shalt-not –pass-ness) led to lots of great movement in Peebles half, lovely linking balls and opportunities up front. The wings were running hard, Hope (she of the hard yards, winning tackles and thoughtful passes) and Mel (she of the let’s-play-every-game-in-a-blaze-of-glory-best-chat-ever-sparkling-hockey-skills) breaking up Peebles’s plays and driving up to the baseline to fire in balls to the D. Michelle (she of the wise-words-sage-play-and-graceful-skills) and Liv (she of the skillful-moves-leave-it-all-on-the-pitch-general-all-around-hockey-fabulousness) were threading their moves around Peebles defence, and finding the D again and again, with some great shots forcing good saves from the goalie, and winning a few short corners. But Peebles were not to be daunted, and gradually found their game, so that halfway through the first half, the game was very evenly split, with a goal looking likely at either end.

The L4s defence stepped up, Kate T (she of the happy-joy-giving-smileyness-but-no-you’re-not-getting-that-past-me-today-thank-you-very-much), Rozy (the-nicest-player-on-the-pitch-but-come-near-me-with-a-ball-and-I-shalt-take-it-from-you) and Captain Catie (she of the lay-it-on-the-line-lead-by-example-I’ll-take-that-ball-and-create-something-magic-with-it) were winning tackles and clearing balls, and the incredible Sassy-B (the scourge of many a forwards’ s goal glory dreams ‘oh you were thinking of scoring? Well let me just flatten your aspirations with a perfectly timed kick/block/stick/body part’) making some fabulous saves and keeping us all straight with her thoughtful directing from the back. But, not to be denied, Peebles created some space near the D, and a strong shot found the back of the goal.

Heads up, and some fresh legs, the L4s rallied for the rest of the first half. Jude launched into defence (she of the ball-stopping-hard-hitting-crucial-tackling-play-making-spirit-rousing-gloriousness), directing play at the back and finding players in the mid to open up space, and Jodie (Sir Alex – she of the insightful-game-plan-and-mad-skills-on-the-pitch, the thinking woman’s Harry Kane?) making some gorgeous, thoughtful moves up front to push Peebles back into defending hard. And Neve, (ok, I should have started with Neve because I have run out of adjectives…she of the tireless-running-never-give-up-dancing-hockey-ball-jaw-dropping-moves? Why yes, that’ll do) working hard at top D, nimbly passing Peebles players who clearly were not used to be passed in quite such an extravagantly splendid manner. The L4s’s efforts were working, Peebles were under pressure, and some well thought out play (thank you Coach Ben) led to Neve in the D, and well you know what happens next, a calm reverse stick slamming into the back of the goal before the goalie really had a chance to blink. 1-1! Well deserved, and we headed to half-time holding our own against a strong Peebles team.

Sweeties chomped, tactics updated, spectators hugged (mmmmn yeah Rozy!), the L4s headed back to the green fields of glory, which were by now, rather more dim fields of partially lit glory, but never ones to let a little darkness/wind/hail/cancelled trains/childcare/hangovers hold us back, we launched back into a hard fought game, pushing hard to try and get a second goal. The second half was tight, Peebles were not letting up, and some key players in their mid and back were breaking up play, but equally the L4s were defending heroically, the mid finding some clever plays to link up around the pitch and find the forwards, with some strong pressure in Peebles D, leading to a blast of a short corner from Neve requiring a solid save from their goalie, and an unfortunate denied opportunity for the rebound. The game continued evenly, both sides creating chances and defending well, but then a particularly determined Peebles onslaught found the D, requiring a sliding save from the indomitable Sassy-B, upon which Peebles were able to recover the ball, and despite the heroic laying out of Captain Catie on the goal line, found the back of the net. The L4s, after some muted discussion, put that behind, and set up for the final part of the game. At this point we decided a quick ball switch was in order (in the vain hope that a white one might easier to see), prompting Iain to very sweetly ask every player on the pitch if they minded, which I have to say I found rather lovely. The L4s continued to push hard, but Peebles defended well, and despite some great runs up the pitch, we were unable to convert the grit into a goal. Final whistle. 2-1.

And so, the last league game of the season over, we belted out our cheers for a great opposition, and then (rather more loudly) some extra ones for Captain Catie and Vice-Captain Rozy, the deliverers of our hockey glory this season, with their inimitable understated, determined, rabble rousing leadership. After a few moments of nearing some not-so-dry-eyed the season’s over emotions, we roundly reminded ourselves of THE PLATE (the training, the fitness drills, and the drinking), picked up our sticks, and waltzed off into the sunset…hockey glory surely awaiting us in Glasgow. Rock on ladies.