S&B – 3
Brentwood 2s – 0

A late game this week saw Southend and Benfleet 1s host Brentwood 2s for the first return match of the season and with S&B being the only team Brentwood had lost against since their first match it was no surprise that the away team would be fired up to face the league leaders. It was a quick paced game with play bouncing from one end of the pitch to the other as both teams sought to grab an early lead. S&B defensive star Rachel Jeffrey worked diligently to keep the Brentwood attacks at bay whilst Hayley Middleton and Adele Cole worked tirelessly to filter the ball up through the midfield which proved difficult as Brentwood defended well on S&B free hits by surrounding the ball quickly; fortunately the keen eyes and powerful strikes of Anne Johnson and Bex Utton meant that the ball found its way to S&B the sea of Brentwood players. Midway through the first half after a Brentwood attack broke down Kirsty Edmunds practically burled passed the Brentwood defence and wrong footed the goalie to give S&B the lead. S&B continued to pressure the Brentwood and were awarded several short corners before half time but were unable to convert one to increase their lead.

It was still all to play for at the start of the second half as S&B held onto their tenuous 1-0 lead as Brentwood picked up the pace. Great marking from the S&B defence meant that Brentwood fired the ball right off the backline more often than not as they couldn’t find the space or the players to attack the S&B goal; a problem that S&B didn’t seem to have as they launched plenty of assaults on the Brentwood defensive D. One such attack drew a foul from the Brentwood defence and awarded S&B another short corner, this time the ball made its way to captain Nicola Bryant who calmly slipped it passed the goalie and made the score 2-0. It wasn’t long after this that Kirsty Edmunds went one on one with the goalie and bagged her second goal of the game, practically sealing the victory for S&B. Brentwood didn’t give up though and were desperately seeking a consolation goal in the final minutes of the game but even as they were awarded a few short corners, S&B defended brilliantly and denied the visitors any chance of making it onto the scoreboard before the final whistle making the score S&B – 3 Brentwood – 0 at full time.

Another great team performance this week sees S&B still sitting at the top of division 1 and whilst everyone brought their A game this week, Kirsty Edmunds stood out among the team and was awarded player of the match for her efforts.