Senior Women v Brown Sugaz

Monday, 10 May 2010 00:43

Venue: Mangere Domain

Mother's Day Match

The Mother's day match was always going to be a hard game for the BMAFC women's team. We were scheduled to play Brown Sugaz at their home grounds at Mangere Domain. Brown Sugaz always play a very physical game, and they're not backwards in coming forward when they disagree with a referee's call. Then when we turned up, we found out that we would be fielding a team of ...gulp, 9.

Yes, Mother's day celebrations, sickness and injuries had left us with the bare bones of a team. But Maylene the coach kept calm, sorted out the new positions and we warmed up. Still, it was with a touch of nervousness that the 9-strong team ran onto the pitch. Maylene had us in a 2-3-3-1 formation: Steph and Kim up the front; Ruth, Jenny de Jong (JD) and Janine in the middle; Karen, Nicolette and Sheree in the back line, and Marion in goal. And then the game began.

The team settled down quickly, despite a bouncy pitch. We knew that the Brown Sugaz would be happy to take long powerful shots at goal from anywhere on the pitch, so we had to shut them down early, but also avoid tiring ourselves out. The first ten minutes passed quickly - we had a few nervous passes as we settled into the new formation, but we also took the ball up into their half where Steph and JD both fired shots at the keeper. Their keeper had a good boot, but Steph was keeping up the pressure on her at all times, causing a few fumbles. And then came the break, in a one-on-one with the keeper, Steph scored! That helped settle the nerves. The team kept up the support from our strikers - on the left, Karen provided some great high balls up the wing and up the middle. Ruth kept up a constant pace up and down the wing and sent balls up to Kim, or took them up herself. Ruth and Karen also put into practice the back passes from training.

In the middle, JD had a lot of ground to cover, but did a great job of calmly getting the ball and then taking it into space and shooting. Nic did some good stops of the ball, but directional headers are perhaps something for next training. On the right, Janine consistently managed to mark three of their players, and still get around them while providing cover for the backs, and options for Steph. Sheree had to do a lot of running to mark a very determined and speedy player, but provided some good safe clearances of the ball. That, and some good communication meant that the mids and backs generally defused Brown Sugaz's attack. Steph and Kim provided lots of running and options - at one point Steph crossed the field herself, taking with her a number of players before passing the ball on.

Topping it all off, Marion provided some excellent calm hands during this crucial first half, especially with two Brown Sugaz players rushing directly at her, hoping to capitalise on a long ball. Brown Sugaz kept up the pressure throughout the first half, and even scored....before the referee called it offside. Phew, nice work by Karen and Sheree led to the offside call. We gained a tenth player after 30 minutes, G, who slotted into midfield with JD - hurrah for fresh legs! And Steph's consistent pressure paid off when she scored again...and again. It felt pretty good going into half time 3-0 up.

Half time is oh-so-brief when you're a player short, so before we knew it, it was time to get back on the pitch. Half time had lifted the Brown Sugaz's attack, but we were also determined, gaining corner after corner. From one of those corners, JD sent a beautiful ball towards the goal, and we all watched it skim along the cross bar before shooting over- d'oh! Karen also sent a beautiful shot towards goal, but the Brown Sugaz keeper got to it first. The referee wasn't calling hand balls, or fouls, so there was some pretty open play. G coped admirably with women twice her size, and kept up a strong attack, with lovely intercepts and passes to Janine, Steph and JD.

Despite having only ten players, we kept up the pressure, perhaps a little too much - half way through the second half, the back line had pushed up into the Brown Sugaz's half, and then a runner got through our back line! Despite some great chasing by Sheree, the Brown Sugaz player lobbed a beautiful ball high over Marion into the top of the net. The only consolation was that no goalie could have stopped it. We managed to get our own back with a final goal from JD, who slotted in a beautiful long shot.

The game ended, and the BMAFC women's team walked off with our heads high - a fantastic win for a team of only 10 women. We ended Mother's Day morning with kai hosted by Brown Sugaz and few quiet lemonades and ales in the clubrooms. Player of the day went to Janine Ross.

As always, a big "hurrah" goes to the supporters. And nice work on not getting yellow carded at Mangere Domain, Maylene.

By Nicolette Butler