Slazenger had prepared well for the forthcoming trip to local rivals Huddersfield Dragons with the vast majority of squad members available, however had a significant setback the morning of the trip when Vice Captain Sarah Hobbs dropping out early doors due to food poisoning. Thanks go to our 3rd team Captain Sarah Ritchie for being so understanding about us having to take one of her best players and Louise Nock for ably stepping up to help out.
Captain Helen Hough got off to a brilliant start by squirting an energy gel all over one of the umpires during their pre match talk but managed somehow to win the toss (maybe something to do with the fact it was a half crown and the other captain didn’t know what it was). The game plan was always to give Huddersfield as little space as possible and Slaz knew they would have to fight hard to contain the midfield playmakers. This plan was carried out successfully. Undeniably the Slaz defence were very busy for most of the teim with goalkeeper and player of the match Eleanor Townend having a brilliant game, saving shot after shot to keep a clean sheet for the whole of the first half. Several shots were also saved off the line by the Slaz defence – at one point by defender Kelly Whittam’s mouth which resulted in a flick that the opposition missed. Slaz did have several short corners and the the chance to break away and score but were denied by the Huddersfield keeper.
Slazenger were pleased that they had managed to keep the scores level at the half time break but knew that it was going to be a difficult second half – especially since there were now lots of the away team supporters on the other side of the pitch. Again the whole of the Slazenger defence and midfield stepped up admirably to deny the opposition time after time as they attacked constantly, facing a number of consecutive short corners. Admirably Slaz managed to hold on until the last 10 minutes when they conceeded the only goal of the game. Unfortunately Slazenger were unable to equalise and the final score was a disappointing 0-1. However, not too disheartening as it was a great team performance and lots of positives to build on when Slaz play at Boston Spa in two weeks time due to a slip week.
