Southend and Benfleet 1s – 4
Old Loughtonians 4s – 0

Old rivals faced off this week as Southend and Benfleet 1s hosted Old Loughtonians 4s on a cold winter afternoon. Old Loughts were one of the toughest opponents S&B faced last season in division 2; with the memories of losing in the last few minutes of the away match after a difficult game but then managing a draw on the return match at home, an eleven player strong S&B went into the game apprehensive of what the visitors had in store for the league leaders. It was a slow start as both teams sized the other up with each attacking and defending hap-hazardously. Half way through the first half though, play livened up and S&B had several great plays up the right wing with Caitlin Meredith and Jodie Linge working brilliantly together and fooling the Old Loughts players with quick one-two passing, it wasn’t long before Claire King found herself in the visitors defensive D slotting one passed the goalie and claiming the first goal of the match for S&B. Diligent defending from Nina Dabbs and Nicola Coleman kept the Old Loughts out of S&Bs D. While Rachael Jeffery funnelled the ball up to Adele Cole who, after a little bit of a scramble with the Old Loughts defenders, managed to bag herself a goal, making the score 2-0 at half time.

S&B were confident going into the second half and with Hayley Middleton and captain Nicola Bryant working tirelessly in the centre of the pitch to constantly switch the ball from side to side, S&B continued to pressure Old Loughts until a deflection off a defender saw Adele Cole scoring again and taking the score to 3-0. S&B were awarded several short corners as the Old Loughts defending became scrappy and a clever slip from the top of the D on one, saw Nicola Bryant make her way onto the scoreboard with S&Bs forth goal. Old Loughts were able to launch several counter attacks but with the great communication that the whole of S&B have displayed week in and week out, all the away teams players were marked out of the game and their attacks soon broke down. S&B didn’t slow down and even in the last few minutes of the game they were still going for goal but despite some great runs the score remained S&B – 4 Old Loughts – 0 at full time. For the second week in a row Caitlin Meredith accepted the honour of play of the match. The last game before Christmas next week though sees local clubs, S&B and Southend, collide, as S&B 1s face Southend 2s away, whilst S&B 2s host Southend 3s at home.