Sunday, 11th December 2011
Team: Macey, Hollie, Katie P, Louise, Alex, Leah, Lauren, Lucy, Chloe and Jodie.
Result: 2-1 (AET)
Scorers: Hollie, Alex
Player of the match: Louise
Starting subs: Lucy, Jodie, Alex
The Ravers had to battle hard to win this thrilling cup tie.
Long Bennington have some talented, strong players. They fought for every ball and although most of the game was played in the visitors half, the result was in doubt right up to the final whistle.
I have to say that the girls started slowly today. Some of them looked distinctly uninterested but eventually they realised that they weren’t going to roll over the visitors and after 10 minutes or so they started playing.
And when they did play, they played well. Going forward, our passing was excellent and shots from Katie, Jodie and Chloe shaved the post several times. At the back, Louise pulled some really brave saves and Leah, Alex and Lauren put in some good tackles. They had to!
After about 20 minutes, Hollie scored her first goal for the Ravers with a good short range shot and we went into the break 1-0 up.
The Ravers continured to dominate the game in the the second half but Long Bennington were dangerous on the break. We needed some last ditch defending, some amazing saves from Louise – and a few slices of luck – to keep our lead.
With about five minutes to go, the visitors equalised following yet another fast counter attack. We couldn’t get back in front so the game went to extra time.
After three minutes, Alex stepped up and smashed the Ravers second goal in from the edge of the box.
We managed to hang on until the final whistle but the girls certainly knew they’d been in a game!
next week: away to Burton Belles in the cup.