Transitions, Turbulence and Tap-ins

Fairbrother’s Fun Fact kicks us off today with how many bridges are there along the length of the River Thames?

This week’s game got off to a turbulent start as we were relocated to a new squash court. Not ideal and, in frustration, Susan threw her phone against the wall… sort of. It was a foil ball batting incident, but still, imagine! Oh and Manning was late.

Other than that early drama we were raring to go. Ben Rhydding have always caused a surprise and last season saw us battle out a hard-fought draw, so we knew to get our heads in early.

Despite a fairly flat warm up, other than muscle Mez lifting goals on her own and Mollie taking EP’s toe, Ben Rhydding did sound more up for it. However, in performance, that was not the case.

Carrying over form from last week, the home side stepped up and scored early doors through McCabe. A nice move slotted home on her reverse past the keeper’s dive. And Sutton kept the pressure on.

Tenacious battling all over pitch controlled by the calm heads of Manning (when she stayed on her feet), Sue and ET meant Sutton retained most of the possession for Q1. A few more strikes on target followed, with no one coming closer than Mollie who hit a cracker off the post. Quarter two comes around and it’s much of the same. Sutton on top but a few cracks of pressure from Ben Rhydding appearing. Then the equaliser sneaks in. So 1-1 half time.

Sutton kept pushing though. And opportunities kept coming. Although, we have developed this weird habit of not winning penalty corners till the 2nd half at home. Scored one though. Not Manning this time either, but she did give it a good go again. Mezza tapped home instead. Then Ben Rhydding flipped it and scored one of their own. So back to even stevens after quarter three.

Final quarter comes around and it was looking nervy. Tired legs and frustrated heads for not pulling off a win yet, the Mighty Pinks kept trying. More solid defensive performances followed. Tackles, interceptions, and heavy pressure crushed any counters from Ben Rhydding. And anything that snuck through, Batsford saw away.

Skillful interchanges, pace and tricks followed, but similarly nothing went all the way for the Mighty Pinks. All the Ts were being hit, the dice was being rolled but zero rewards so far. ET even salmoned and still nothing.

It was calling for something special. And it arrived, perfectly on schedule.

Some would call it a perfect attacking transition. Others just simply beautiful hockey. A sawn-off visitor chance led to a Manning restart crash to McCabe. Slip to Vicky after winning a foul. Calm restart from Vicks to feed in Sue who ran in uncontested to the circle. Shot off. Deflected by McCabe. Goal. Three points secured. Hattrick avoidance for McCabe. An ugly win but we’ll take it.

POM went to Manning in a close battle with Vicks and BP. DOD to Sue for the phone incident. And 212 bridges cross the Thames.
6pm start next week away at Stourport… thrilled