LTHC Ladies 3rd XI 2 at Lutterworth Ladies 1st XI 1
LRHA Ladies – Division 1
Saturday 24th November 2018
After a hard fought draw last week Town Ladies 3rd XI made the journey down the M1 to 3rd place Lutterworth Ladies 1st XI. On paper the match looked like it should be a good one. Lutterworth one place ahead of Town in the table, also held the best scoring record with Town holding the 2nd best in 4th place.
The toss started in the now traditional way with Sam Dalby losing, however push back was delayed when Dalby’s keen eyes spotted one of the opposition wearing white socks. Much discussion was had about where a spare pair of blue ones were, but finally the game got underway.
As expected Lutterworth started extremely strongly with two of their players dominating the midfield and keeping Town’s defence extremely busy. Wave after wave of pressure was soaked up by Town. As the game progressed Town started to settle down and play some of their best passing hockey to date. They started to look dangerous on quick breaks and pressured the Lutterworth keeper at every opportunity, who was able to keep the score at 0-0 by staying strong and saving everything. The breakthrough came though as Town’s Eleanor Grainge powered down the right wing and found Grace Jones in the circle, who drew the keeper to her, and then beautifully squared the ball to a wide open Sam Dalby who slotted the ball home before the keeper could scramble over to save it. 1-0 to Town.
The goal seemed to give Town an extra boost of energy and a belief that they could win the game, as they continued to absorb the pressure that Lutterworth heaped on them. Man of the Match, Zara Bailey seemed to be everywhere and an impenetrable wall that Lutterworth could not seem to penetrate. Lutterworth caught again on a break saw Town fight hard to win a short corner, 1 of the 5 they won in the game. After the initial routine nicknamed the scooby doo, due to the the crazy nature of it failed to work, Grace Jones found herself battling with the keeper in front of the goal. After 2 saves Grace was falling to the ground, as she managed to get that crucial touch to that saw the ball head between the keepers legs and in to the back of the net. 2-0 to Town.
The two goal lead was not held for long ,as just before half time Lutterworth pushed hard, and after making some fantastic saves Selena Cox was finally beaten to make the score line 2-1.
The 2nd half started much as the first half had finished, with both teams battling hard to win. With opportunities presenting themselves nobody seemed to make the breakthrough. Dalby found the back of the net again, only for it to be ruled a no goal, after it hit her shin pads before being powered home. Lutterworth at one point were about to celebrate what they thought was going to be a goal only for Selena Cox to have made a save on the left of her goal and then at full stretch make an outstanding save back across on the right. Town were breathing a sigh of relief, whilst the subs were cheering.
The full whistle saw Town hang on to the 2-1 lead, and leapfrog Lutterworth into third place in the table. With the first half of the season now complete, nobody would have thought that this new team, with new players would be sitting third in the table with the second best scoring record. With a long break until the season starts again in the new year, only time will tell if Town can continue their fantastic start.
