“There is only one rule at Slaz – you don’t lose to Wakefield” were the words of Dave Ellam, ringing in the ears of the Slazenger team as they appoached the bouncy blue College Grove pitch. Slaz were determined not to easily let the memory of their recent win against Chapeltown slip and started the game strongly, chasing down and pressing the Wakefield defence.
Their hard work was rewarded when they took the lead mid way through the first half, youngster Hetty Walker and player of the match calmly slotted home the ball at the post on a short corner. However their joy was short lived when Wakefield managed to equalise almost immediately afterwards. It was obvious that the game was going to be fairly even as no team was completely on top, the play was end to end and the half time score was still 1-1.
After a positive half time team talk by coach Steve Wood, Slaz came out again ready to attack and some great play on the right by Hannah Field resulted in the ball coming into the D for striker Sarah Cooper to roof an unstoppable shot to allow Slaz to take the lead once more. Unfortunately, Wakefield stepped up and once again Slaz were unable to hold their lead for long as the opposition equalised to take a share of the points.
In the last minutes Wakefield upped the pressure despite only having 11 players and Slaz successfully defended many short corners to keep the scoreline even and gain that valuable point. Lots of positives to be taken from a game which saw another youngster Olivia Dovernor have a successful debut for the first team after joining the club only a short time ago. The next game is at home against Huddersfield Dragons which sees a new unwritten Slaz rule being implemented – “There is a second rule at Slaz – you don’t lose to Huddersfield”!
