Upminster 2s vs. Southend and Benfleet 1s

Upminster 2s – 1
Southend and Benfleet 1s – 3 (Nicola Bryant 1, Claire King 1, Kirsty Edmunds 1)

Southend and Benfleet 1s travelled to face Upminster 2s this week. Last time the two teams faced each other it was a quick and scrappy game and with the bare eleven S&B were weary of the young nippy side. As the game began though the ball was caught up in the midfield for a long time as S&B held possession but were hindered from their usual quick attacks as they found themselves running into strong gusts of winds. Soon though S&B would find their way through the home sides defence and have several shots on goal, unfortunately all sailing passed the posts. Upminster’s attacks came from quick breakaways but close marking and constant hassling from S&B meant the young side usually sent the ball off the sidelines before they managed to reach the S&B defensive quarter. It was a long time coming but just as S&B thought the first half might end 0-0, S&B were awarded a short corner and a selfless slip from the top of the D by Claire King allowed captain Nicola Bryant to slot the ball behind the goalie and give S&B their first goal of the game. S&B managed a several more attempts on goal and kept the furious attacks from Upminster at bay but despite a parade of short corners S&B were unable to find the back of the goal for a second time as the home side pressured S&B on short corners with their fast pace.

On the restart S&B managed to intercept Upminster passes and launch numerous attacks until a short corner was given and Claire King cracked it passed the goalie to make the score 2-0. Upminster would work their way up the pitch but their attacks seemed to break down as quickly as they rose and rarely made it into S&Bs defensive D. Any attacks that did slip through were snapped up by Jodie Linge who’d sweep them away to safety. At times it was tough for S&B to work the ball up the wings but quick one-two passing from Rachael Jeffery and Nicola Coleman saw the ball filter up through the sea of Upminster shirts to a waiting Claire King who was hanging high in the home sides half to cause all sorts of problems for the Upminster defence as she and Kirsty Edmunds worked side by side to attack the Upminster goal. Upminster surprised S&B with a tear away attack as a lone player sped through the away teams defence to go one-on-one with S&B goalie Lisa Hawkins, to slip the ball under her arm in an unstoppable goal that came out of nowhere to make the score 2-1. S&B hit back though and soon Edmunds weaved her way around several Upminster players drawing the goalie wide before she smashed the ball into the opposite corner. The ball then quickly found its way to the Upminster’s goal scorer and S&B watched on as there was a almost a complete repeat of the first goal; however Hawkins wasn’t about to let herself be beating twice and this time the one-on-one ended with the S&B goalie producing an awesome diving save to brush the ball safely off the backline passed the post.

The score line ended S&B – 3, Upminster – 1 with player of the match being awarded to captain Nicola Bryant, who worked tirelessly all game and was a paramount part of both the offensive and defensive plays of the game.