Southend and Benfleet 1s – 3 (Sarah Conway 1, Kirsty Edmunds 1, Ashlie Colman 1)
Romford – 2

A bright but chilly Saturday this week saw Southend and Benfleet 1s host Romford at home for their last match before the Christmas break. The opening few minutes was a hectic back and forth battle with both teams testing out the others defence, but some timely tackles from S&Bs youngest member Ellen Taylor kept the visitors at bay whilst the S&B forward line attacked on mass coordinating several strikes at goal early in the game. Soon S&B would be awarded a short corner which Sarah Conway would power home to put S&B on the scoreboard. Shortly after that Kirsty Edmunds would produce one of her signature runs up the pitch, weaving around every defender to take on the goalie, one on one, where she’d come out on top to slot the ball into the back of the goal to take the score to 2-0 midway through the first half. Brilliantly clear and constant communication from Captain Rachel Jeffery and Jodie Linge on the back line would organise the S&B midfield and keep Romford attackers tightly marked so they had nowhere to turn whilst Lora Sharples and Nicola Bryant hounded them relentlessly to keep the ball firmly out of S&Bs half giving them no chance to score before half time.

On the restart S&B lost some of their momentum as they dropped a forward into midfield, a tactic that had arguably saved them in their match recent match against Wapping 3s, hindered them this week and as S&B fell quiet, Havering pounced, soon the visitors were awarded a short corner which they managed to power home to start their come back. Another short corner, not long after that saw Havering draw level. S&B regrouped and soon Caitlin Meredith and Adele Cole would thread the ball up the pitch to have several attempts but they were unable to pull ahead. Havering would then be awarded a third short corner and whilst all S&B minds reeled at the prospect of going behind midway through the second half, S&B goalie Lisa Hawkins would stay calm and cool to produce several impressive saves; one shot that was flying over head was calmly beaten over the cross bar, whilst a diving save blocked another shot from the back of the goal and deflated the invigorated Romford side and prevented them from taking the lead before Ashlie Colman would slip the ball passed the Romford goalie to give S&B their third goal of the game. Superb defensive work from Nicola Coleman on the left would block any further oncoming attacks and send the ball back up the pitch for S&B to seek to extend their lead. In the final minutes of the game a frantic Romford tried to defend their goal a wild swing struck S&B striker Edmunds on the head and through she soldiered on until the end, partaking in the short corner and having a few more attempts at goal, the score remained 3-2 at the final whistle.

Player of the match was shared this week between stars from both ends of the pitch, striker Kirsty Edmunds and goalie Lisa Hawkins! And with Havering drawing against Old Loughts this week, S&B sit second by a mere one point as the league breaks from Christmas. A special mention must be given to the loyal S&B supporters who came out to encourage and cheer for us on the chilly December Saturday! Thank you so much and Merry Christmas!