The nervous tension was high and so was the positivity surrounding the team, as we stood in position waiting for the start of the match. This was L4s first league game of their second season since being formed and there was a hunger to win. This was to be a game of two halves!

So, there we were, in position. We have two young kids and a nervous CB in defence, we are strong in midfield and our strikers, well let’s face it, they’ve not been properly tested - last season didn’t see many goals from us.

Start whistle blew and Wallingford were all over us. Becs in CM started rushing about to keep that ball away from our goal, but wait… who were these defenders of ours… Wallingford were hitting a Windsor wall of defence! Sue, in goal, led command, while Gillian, Mia and Ailsa just blew us away with their skills to take that ball off Wallingford and strike it down the pitch. 10mins in and our defence changed the game, we were confident to start pushing up the pitch.

Now it was time for the mid-fielders to show their worth and oh boy, did they. This ball was getting to the mid line, Ellie, Tasha and Charlotte confidently picked up the ball and kept it. However, we had a problem! With an attack team not tested a lot, I think they were in shock! We were moving into that 3rd quarter of the pitch, but then there was no-one ahead, we were never going to score. Then Ann started to shout more, that woman ain’t coming to play and not getting that ball! Boom, 25mins in and we were scaring them in their D.

Half-time chat - everyone was pumped, we could see that we found our stride, our team. Libby made sure we knew that and we had some great coaching from Ann and Sue. We were ready to make something happen in the second half.

Off we go, second half. Oh yes, Windsor were now dominating this game! We are getting to their D and when that ball started to go back to our goal, we looked in awe at Mia, Ailsa and Gillian, knowing that that ball was coming straight back up the pitch. Our strikers are now forward and we start to win some short corners. First one was a good effort, but then Ann made us huddle before the next one, she said it will intimidate them! Oh Lordy, she was right. It wasn’t a clean one, it bubbled about in the D, but it turned into a goal from Charlotte and an assist from Ellie. Jeepers, you have not seen such a bunch of women so happy, we skipped and did high fives all the way to the half way line!

Now we were really motivated, it was coming together. Louise came on and this was a woman possessed, she was smashing the ball up the pitch and then we had ice hockey Jenny on the other side - nothing was getting passed her. Couple that with Daisy and Ann, conveniently placing themselves up front, left and right, we were ON FIRE!

What another short corner!? ‘Ok Ann, let’s huddle’, decision was for Libby to push out to Charlotte - oh my life, what was that bullet that shot across and straight into the goal! We were now 2-0 up! What a buzz.

We had 5 mins left and from nowhere, Wallingford were down in our D, Sue was crowded by players so could not see a Wallingford player literally fly into her, take her out and score. Well, we had to give them one, they did try hard ;-)

Full-time, 2-1 to Windsor.

This was not a game of 11 players out there, this was a team! Yes, we chose a MOTM and a very well deserved Gillian, but without question, everyone was the MOTM. There was not one person on that field that rested for a second, incredible determination.