South East Counties Womens Football League - Div 1[W] - 18th Dec 2005
Haywards Heath 2nds 1 [Natalie Trend] Lindfield 5
After a dubious start, awaiting a referees inspection, to see whether this match was actually going to be played, with frost being very evident on the some parts of the pitch , Heath 2nds didn’t start mentally ready and there were obvious concerns in the Heath camp in the risk of injury on such a hard surface, resulting in some hesitant tackles .
After a slow start for Heath, Lindfields’ incredibly quick strikers struck early with an easy goal. Heath replied well with the attacking force of captain Natalie Trend, Amy Piper, Mel Rooney Mica Saunders and Lou Rice which resulted in a goal set up by Saunders determination and Trends following up. This seemed to perk Heath up but poor defensive work enabled Lindfield to score another two easy goals.
At half time Julie Hawthorne and Fran Pritlove replaced Gemma Paull and Piper with Rooney pushing forward. Heath created some good chances in the second half with Rooney, Trend and Rice all having opportunities to reduce the deficit but everything seemed to be going Lindfields way. On 55 mins the experienced Beverly Loftus replaced Saunders on the left wing, but Lindfield added two more goals, one from the penalty spot, to give them a somewhat flattering scoreline. Managers’ player of the match goalkeeper Celia Huggett had a tremendous game making some crucial saves which stopped Heath conceding yet more goals whilst Rooney was voted Heaths “Player of the Match” in only her 2nd outing of the season following injury. Manager Sarah Miller said “It really showed that we hadn’t had a game the previous 2 weeks, our fitness suffered and when you are playing against 11 very fit, young players that is a crucial thing that needs to be right”.
Team: Celia Huggett (Managers Player of the Match), Gemma Paull (Julie Hawthorne, 45 mins), Gemma Yates, Rebecca Smallman, Alison Field, Mica Saunders (Bev Loftus, 55 mins), Louise Creasey, Louise Rice, Mel Rooney (Player of the Match), Natalie Trend (captain), Amy Piper (Fran Pritlove 45 mins)
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