A tough opening match

The first team had a tough opening match to the season. They conceded 4 penalty strokes in the game, which reflected the amount of possession and attacking the opposition had. It was pretty much all defence for the first 20 minutes as Gemma, Adele and Rachel had to work very hard and as the midfield got dragged deeper it became difficult to clear the ball to another Stockport player. Didsbury scored in open play after 20 minutes and soon got their second from a penalty stroke.
As the half progressed Stockport grew in confidence and started to gain some control in the midfield and get the ball up to the forwards. Jenny Plant and Nicola worked hard down the wings and Lisa controlled the centre up front. Once up the other end, Jenny crossed to Amy, who went on the rampage with a blinding shot to finish. However, Didsbury scored just before half time to make it 3-1.

The second half was more even with our midfield of Chloe, Clare, and Ceri getting more opportunity to play the ball around. Added help came from super-sub Leah Perkins who drove the team forward. At one point, Amy took on the entire Didsbury defence, got round 3 players, and blasted a second shot past the keeper to put Stockport right back in the game. Didsbury looked shaken, and Stockport earned a short corner within minutes of the restart and this was their best opportunity to pull level, but unfortunately it didn’t happen as Didsbury closed down the shot. In the end Didsbury were awarded a penalty stroke as the ball was stopped on the line by a foot, which was converted to make the final score 4-2.
 
POM: Angela Fuggle