Jelly Babies do the trick for Maroons

Report by Derek Brien (team manager).
The Maroons assembled at a surprisingly mild, but very damp Aubigny Sports Centre in Haddington for our match against Gullane. There had apparently been an almighty downpour of rain about a hour before we arrived, but I’m pleased to report that it stayed dry for the game.
Ellen Robertson’s dad, Angus, had very kindly agreed to assist me on the touchline today, so we got the girls warmed up and passed on Head Coach Mairi’s instructions to keep the full backs and midfield wide, so that we weren’t all occupying the same space in the middle of the pitch. We also had to concentrate on marking players when we were defending.
We managed to start the match ten minutes early and play was fairly evenly distributed in both halves for the first fifteen minutes or so, but a very impressive solo run and shot by Gullane’s stand-out midfielder saw them go in 1-0 up at the break.
Clearly inspired by my introduction of Haribos as a half-time treat at Tweedbank last weekend (other sweet brands are available), a couple of the girls handed round Tangfastics and Jelly Babies for a quick energy fix whilst Angus and I talked tactics with them for the second half. Anna Cockerill also showed off a lovely ball mark on her leg, which she’d received whilst bravely running down a Gullane short corner.
Not sure if it was our motivational chat or the sweets, but either way the girls were absolutely immense in the second half. We were passing really slickly from defence, the midfield ran their socks off and chased every ball and the forwards were making good runs whilst attacking and pressurised their defenders when they had the ball.
The hard work paid off when we were awarded a short corner with about ten minutes remaining and it was a tale of two Ellie’s. Ellie Hall injected with laser precision and Ellie Simpson smacked an absolute beauty from the edge of the D which, but for the backboard, would probably not have stopped until it reached Dunbar.
Gullane were on the back foot now and we continued to press their team back in search of a winner. A break out of defence saw them win two short corners in succession, but goalie Emma and defenders Anna, Abbie, Megan and Emilia were having none of it and repelled everything that came their way.
We had a chance to win it at the death when Neve beat two players before feeding the ball through to Ellie Hall. Ellie bore in on goal, but the Gullane keeper came out to narrow the angle and Ellie’s shot went agonisingly wide of the far post.
The final whistle sounded and a 1-1 draw it was.
The Gullane coach remarked what a great game it had been and she was absolutely right. The girls were buzzing!
A huge well done to Anna Cockerill on her player of the match performance today. In truth, all of the girls were outstanding. Thanks to Anna, Megan Dunlop, Abbie Fairbairn, Emilia Henry, Neve Jardine, Cara Buttery, Imogen Forbes, Ellie Hall, Ellen Robertson, Ellie Simpson, Ailsa Gibb, Anna Morrison and Emma Brien.
Thanks also to Angus for helping out, to Gullane umpires Ben and his far-side assistant for a very fair and free-flowing game and to the assembled parents and carers for their support.