It was a wet and blustery morning that saw the usual messages around is the game on or off coming in. JB deployed head of pitch inspections Lianne to make sure that all would be ok. Our league appointed ref Jack was also messaging about the weather. JB replied to this one asking Jack why he was texting from upstairs and wondered had he lost the use of his legs….

In between all of the weather-related message exchanges in comes a message saying Daisy is unwell and unable to play. Already without Holly reality hit that we were now without both of our main keepers for the game. More calls and texts with the coaches now to work out what we could do knowing that Niamh (our cover keeper) was unavailable as she had family commitments. The stress levels were high…. Pitch report comes in – pitch is fine to play, hooray! OK now to work out who if anyone has goalkeeper gloves so they can go in goal. Jack then appears! WOW, his legs do work and he made it all the way downstairs! He reviews the report from Lianne and agrees game is to go on. Then a game changing text is received….. Physio Carly has managed to get hold of Niamh and she can play! AMAZING!

We arrive at the ground and wow – the weather is bad – the girls are arriving in their nice new hoody’s and jackets and straight away want to get on with a warm up. Mums and dads are wanting to warm up as well and instantly set to work putting the goals up 🙂

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The opposition arrive and we meet up with Jack who suggests 4 qtrs. to allow for the pitch to be monitored – all agreed and players briefed we line up for the kick off. The rain is lashing down and we have the wind against us but the Divas do not let this bother them. Playing our new flat formation for only the second time we are able to limit the Mile Oak attack to a few half chances. Khloee back in the middle of the park controls the midfield well whilst Lucy and Lilly use their pace to break free of the defensive shackles this shape require and on numerous occasions break into the Mile Oak half safe in the knowledge that the backline are well protected. Nyah and Lexi are paired as a strike partnership and Lexis hold up play combined with Nylah’s pace cause the mile Oak defence a few issues but sadly our shooting boots were bogged down in the mud and we were unable to capitalise. First qtr. 0-0.

The second qtr. saw changes to the team but not shape. Isla and Annie are introduced as a new right side with Rose replacing Khloee in midfield and Aimee joining Lexi up top as the usual strike partnership. Mile Oak had now figured out our shape and adapted which took us a few moments to react to – not before Mile oak had broken the lines though and they were clean through one on one with Niamh. OMG what a save! Niamh stands up tall and makes the save with her feet – reacting quickly to gather the ball up – no signs of rustiness there! A quick kick out and the counter is on. Aimee plays it out to Nyah now back on the wing and before they know it we are bearing down on the Mile Oak goal. A great save by their keeper. The weather starts to ease off and the game becomes a little more open. Megan who is like a player re born since switching to contacts snuffs out attack after attack down the left side which means Nyah can push on a little more. First half finishes 0-0 with plenty of action all over the park.

The second half (3rd qtr.) sees the Divas now playing with the wind and also the Sun has come out – what a contrast to 30 minutes ago! Craig and Pete Deliver the team briefing whilst JB speaks to some of the girls about specific focus points for them. We also revert back to our favoured Diamond shape, which sees Tillie making her debut on the wing. Amy gets a break and Rose drops into the backline with Melody and Isla. Khloee and Lucy are back with Aimee and Nyah playing up top. The change in shape catches Mile Oak out and again we dominate all over the pitch, Rose and Khloee are both on the same wavelength and when Rose breaks from defence after breaking up play to go on a run into the Mile Oak box Khloee has already stepped into the defensive role to ensure we stay protected at the back. It’s beautiful to watch how hard the girls are working for each other. Tillie goes on a run of her own down the wing and shows the potential she has but sadly her cross is snuffed out. JB (Who is standing behind the goal for this one) has a chat with Niamh about some of the things she is spotting and encourages her to let the players in front of her know that she is not happy…. JB then decided he needed to wear ear plugs…. But the defensive line knew that their keeper expected more from them that’s for sure!

3rd qtr. 0-0.

The final qtr. saw more changes and another change of shape. The divas could clearly smell the chance of a win and the fitness work that the coaches had been doing with them was clearly paying off as we just had bundles of energy and by this point were literally peppering the Mile Oak box but their keeper was in inspired form. Lilly embarked on one of her winding runs down the wing, past one, past another and oh hang on – that’s the corner flag, a tight right angle turn and now she is running across the by-line and into the box, past another one only for the keeper to make a save. A quick kick out of their own saw Mile Oak on their only counter of the qtr. and their striker had clear air in front of her – or so she thought. Amy showed great pace to get a great challenge in just over the half way line but the striker managed to collect the ball again now one on one with Niamh – until Melody who had quite literally switched on the afterburner caught up with the mile oak striker and used all of her experience to muscle her off balance with the ball going out for a corner – a fantastic piece of defending right on front of JB who was behind the goal thinking about how he would frame the post-match team talk after the girls had worked so so hard and come away with nothing. Proud Dad moment right there!

The resulting corner saw a last-minute scramble in the goal mouth but the Divas got the ball clear. Deciding he had had enough (or that the time was up, who knows with teenagers) Jack blows for full time – huge joy for both teams.  Full Time 0-0.

3 cheers for both teams and lots of happy smiling faces. Over for the debrief. Craig and Pete took the lead on this and discussed with the girls how well they had done and the areas for focus they had spotted. Attention then turned to JB who at training yesterday had asked the girls to show the coaches and parents what it meant to be a Diva! He also promised them that if they demonstrated that they had not just memorised the 3 P’s but actually knew what they meant they could have a week off of running next week at training. Nervous faces awaited the verdict – they had done it! No running at training next week! The excitement was like we had just win the game!

Parents recognised that the task of Diva of the match was a tough one this week as everyone had done so well! So they decided to recognise the fact that Megan had had a couple of excellent games now and rewarded her with the trophy. Well done Megan!!

Everyone then went home to dry off and warm up – apart from Jack who then went onto his second game of the day, who would be a referee hey!

Southwick up next for our Divas!