Middleton 2's - 7th October 2023

Such a gorgeous day for a game of hockey – especially one that was as gloriously controlled as this was today. The early push-back saw the green goddesses take early control, with an iron fist – some superb play from Sara Riley commanding the right midfield.

Penalty corner after penalty corner awarded in the first half in favour of the Lewesians but to no avail. Whilst a lot of the possession and territory in the first 35 minutes was undoubtedly green the scoreboard remained stubbornly untroubled. Forwards, Sophia Roberts and Co, can be rightly proud of the pressure they rained down on the Middleton defenders, with the pressure starting to tell in their crumbling composure. The reports from the sideline were of some raised voices and agitated exchanges.

In the second half the penalty corner practice of the first finally paid off. It was a beautiful penalty corner movement, injected with precision and speed by Jan ‘Goldie’ Goldsmith, to the receiver young Helen ‘Gubbs’ Fuller from whom Sara ‘sharp shooter’ Riley slipped it right to Amy ‘silky skills’ Godby. Amy removed a defender from the equation with the slip pass back to Sara who promptly dispatched it beautifully beyond the reach of the ever-vocal goalkeeper. A really well worked penalty corner, with fabulous results.

Open field goal was the next for the brace-scoring Sara Riley, with a gorgeous lay-up from Gubbs running into the midfield – almost a carbon copy of the goal that Sara set up for Gubbs the previous week.

Rankling the goalkeeper was the order of the day – beautifully done by the forwards, the roars being heard as far back as Freya ‘Solid gold’ Colvin… who earned the accolade of today’s players’ player with the most magnificent series of saves with exceptional protection of her line from penalty corner strikes. The last few minutes of the game proving a little hairy when it was becoming obvious the result was not going the way of the home team – the last penalty corner was demonstration in teleportation from Freya who read the direction and pace beautifully.

Welcome to some new players up front as we work to establish some combinations, Mia Childs earning her promotion call -up, alongside new strikers who acquitted themselves admirably, despite one extremely questionable tackle that saw blood drawn.

Truly was a joy to watch with some lovely interplay between Amy Godby and Nina Blackwell-Rayan in particular, along with some great supporting runs from Helen Gill driving down the right side-line. Also showing her strength in both attack and defensively was the lovely Lucy Nuttal on the left.

First penalty flick in a long time saw Gubbs foiled, which is always a shame but was felt especially keenly against this goalkeeper whose vocal remonstrations against the final goal were truly eye-opening.

Bask in the glory o lovely ones - one to build on for our early home fixture next week, Horsham 4's will be a tough test but one we are more than a match for....