On the 8th November, the 1s faced top of the table USW at mighty coombe. With all the support from the club the girls were ready to go, however due to a kit clash (as the whole league choose to play in red) they kicked off in bibs. As a side note, the colour of these bibs is a much-debated subject within the team. I have heard them being labelled as blue, green, aqua and turquoise; however, those are all incorrect as the bibs are very clearly teal and this is not up for discussion.
Regardless, the girls didn’t let the kit change phase them and kicked off with a high intensity (and new formation). Winning every first ball, Bristol held the league leaders back with great work from Becky and Freya as a wall protecting the back four. Some cracking tackles across the pitch from Sophie and Gloria with of course some spectacular headers from SJ continued to hold USW back. Some good saves came from stand-in goalie Amy and even one which she caught from behind the goal line!?!? (she and then rest of the Bristol team will claim that it was on the line, but I wonder what VAR would have said…)
Then, in a breakaway move, our weapon up top Marita flew past their defence and tapped the ball past their goalkeeper to make it 1-0! The hard work across the pitch by team had paid off and halfway through the first half Bristol were sitting pretty against a bewildered USW. As the half progressed, Bristol continued to work, staying disciplined and shuffling from one side of the pitch to the other, and back again, and back again, with Hannah pulling strings when we did get the ball back. Then, in a move very similar to the first goal, Marita again found herself in the opposition box, only to be kicked by their defender and rightfully earning the team a penalty. While we all would have like to watch Marita take a one step penalty, the responsibility fell to Eve, who placed the ball on the right-hand side of the goal to double our lead.
Following more defending and hard work from Bristol whose teamwork was paying off as USW began to bicker amongst themselves, (special consideration goes to Serena here, who had their number 7 yapping in her ear the entire match). After about a thousand goal kicks from Amy, the half time whistle blew, and the girls went back into the changing rooms to discover new kit waiting for them! Extra thanks go to PHD Anna who very kindly retrieved the kit. After a team talk at half time, the girls came out for the second half fashioning the lovely white tops. However, Eve was still wearing her red undertop which looked awful and was not the fashion choice she would have made had she known we were to be wearing white.
As the second half progressed, the 1s worked relentlessly hard, with tackles being made across the midfield with Gloria and Leila collectively pocketing their left winger. Try as they might, USW struggled to break past the Bristol lines. However, as hard and as disciplined as Bristol were, within the last 3 minutes of the game USW pulled two goals back. The less said about this I think the better (I’m sure Annie, Bella and co would agree, who had been taunting USW for the majority of the second half, quote of the week being “I don’t know why you’re celebrating you’re 2-1 down”, said by Annie, one minute before they equalised”).And while the lapse in concentration costed us two points, this should not take
away from how hard the team had worked, and it’s worth remembering how far determination and playing as a team can get you (for the first 87 minutes at least!).
Overall, the girls should be immensely proud of this game, I hope the feeling of playing as a team was felt across the whole group. Player of the match rightfully went to Hannah Goffi who made such a difference in the midfield, her hard work won us back the ball so often and her organisational skills in midfield made a huge difference in bringing the team together. Also she made a very inspiring speech before the match that any captain or coach would be proud of (thanks Hannah).
By Eve, Rhind
