Brighton and Hove 5's prove too strong for determined but depleted L3's

Saturday 13th January – Brighton and Hove 5’s

Worries in the days preceding the game about the weather are very familiar at this time of year when it is an early pushback – but luckily those fears were unfounded. The day started fine.
Well, from a weather perspective at least.

Injury was the main theme of the day, even before the Gorgeous Greens took to the pitch, we had a few niggling injuries; Naomi Blackwell and I carrying ongoing problems, Shoulder and Achilles respectively, but on the day these numbers grew and grew…. Sophia Roberts first out of the gate with a sciatic nerve aggravation but managed to stoically perform her assignment as a high hanging forward so well that this may indeed prove to be her new role forevermore!
But with perhaps only a handful of minutes before the game began Lucy Nuttall was completely blindsided by an agonising and prolonged lower back muscle spasm. It was heart-breaking to observe our baby-back in such pain, with walking an obvious problem the issue with trying to keep her warm was uppermost. Massive thanks to Alan Forster and Mr Colvin for all your assistance with helping to get her inside – and a huge thank you to our 2’s goalkeeper, Carla Leach who as a paramedic was more than qualified to give Lucy the once-over.

Unfortunately, the day’s sorry tale of injury woes didn’t end there, the final hammer blow was the loss of Lou Williams– our stalwart defender – at about the 10-minute mark. An aggravation of an old knee injury that proved to be the end of her game. Sending all our injured soldiers massive healing ohms, Epsom salt baths, buckets of arnica, and all the love.

Having already employed the singular sub at the back in lieu of Lucy – and can I use this opportunity to thank Mia Childs for her sterling effort in an unfamiliar position, and constant haranguing from yours truly. Mia worked super hard to keep the opposition’s right wing out of trouble – and it worked, as this player had broken through our defences in the previous fixture, but was kept super quiet today by Mia’s efforts which was very satisfying indeed!

And then there were 10.
For a considerable length of time.

Nina Blackwell-Rayan was able to come to the rescue and arrived in time to help her team-mates out of a very sticky predicament. I am so grateful to Nina for that - coming in cold (& staying cold despite the alleged ‘warmer’ ambient temperature) is such a hard thing to do, you are always beloved Nina, but especially so at about 11.20 on that day I can tell you!
The time that the team spent down to 10 was genuinely brilliant though – the team really pulled together, and we gave away so little in that time, even applying some not inconsiderable pressure on the opposite goal. Kudos goes to every single player for this, having to work twice as hard – especially Mollie Roberts who came back from the forward line and very ably supported the midfield defence, whilst still managing to contribute some lovely scything runs down the right wing.

The first goal conceded in the first half, the ball found its way through on the very narrowest of margins, squeaking between the reach of Freya and Jan 'Goldie' Goldsmith - who had an absolute belter of a game at CB. The reply from the Lewes Lovelies was after the break, with a great finish by Sara 'Sharp-Shooter' Riley, from a skirmish post penalty corner. This felt like a fair result of squeeze that had been consistently being applied from the girls in green. Unfortunately the opposition felt no such benevolence towards the stricken Lewes, and finished the game with a well-taken lift from Freya's blind spot.

All in all, the second in the table were always going to prove to be troublesome but the goddesses in green truly played a magnificent game. Genuinely deserving of a point, I would say, but the true winner today was the Lewes 3’s team spirit, what a result it was to see everyone work so hard for one another. If I could share the accolade of player’s player across the whole team, then I would as that feels like the just reward for all the effort. That badge of honour goes to the brilliant Freya Colvin, resolute as ever between the sticks. Am tempted to bestow the title of Gandalf on Freya, not just because of her general goalkeeping wizardry but her insistence that none shall pass – demonstrating her lightning-fast reactions and juggling skills on a number of occasions. The unicorn of truth and power is hers for another week, along with beleaguered Trev, appropriately in familiar hands.

Onwards and upwards though m’lovelies – let’s channel that team spirit and enjoy the luxury of y’know 11 players, We have a mid-table belter next week, South Downs 1’s are snapping at our heels and will be a cracker of a game. Looking forward to it already….