Southend and Benfleet - 3 (Naomi Barker 1, Caitlin Meredith 1, Kirsty Edmunds 1)
University of Essex - 3

This week saw Southend and Benfleet 1s host the University of Essex 1s at home on a bright and warm March afternoon. S&B knew that the mid-table university team was not to be underestimated as their previous meeting had been one of their toughest games of the season ending with S&B claiming a somewhat shaky 4-2 victory.

As the game began the S&B defence were swarmed by the visitors and despite shot after shot on goal S&B were somehow able to feed off the relentless attacks. UOE shut down the few attacks S&B managed to launch and would counter attack hard and fast mirroring the two team’s previous encounter. This time however, UOE couldn’t find that early goal as, even as they were awarded with a plethora of short corners, they were unable to find the back of the goal through the combined might of the S&B defence, fortified by the sister act of Nicola Coleman and Nina Dabbs. S&B were hampered by the attack heavy line-up in such a defensive game but attacking star Claire King and midfield staple Adele Cole worked perfectly together to relieve the pressure from the exhausted S&B defence. S&B were further troubled when their top goal scorer, Kirsty Edmunds, took a nasty bash to her hand early in the first half, but she soldiered on and would soon whip around defenders like always to have a few pops at the UOE goal, unfortunately to no avail. Hayley Middleton set about sticking to the trickiest of the university players and effectively marked her out of the game, whilst Naomi Barker dropped further back to boaster the midfield S&B were able to relax into a more comfortable game as play was pushed out of the S&B defensive quarter. But just when S&B thought they were safe, and despite S&B goalie Lisa Hawkins saving several cracking shots, UOE were able to sneak a trickling ball passed into the back of the goal just minutes before half time. It was tough going but a quick run up the right wing from midfield by Caitlin Meredith culminated in S&B being awarded a short corner as the whistle for half time sounded. All of S&B pushed up to support this final attack before the break and after a few shots Barker managed to power home S&Bs first goal to make it 1-1 at the
break.

A change in formation for S&B allowed for the more familiar four, four, two formation which allowed S&B to open up more passing options. Rachel Jeffery acted as a pinball machine as she switched the ball from one wing to the next to allow S&B to attack the weak spots in the visitors defence and allowed S&B to take control of the game that had otherwise eluded them. A counterattack mounted from nowhere however broke through the S&B defence and UOE managed to find a second goal giving them a slim 2-1 lead which would be snatch away from them soon after as clever teamwork from Edmunds and Meredith fooled the UOE defence and allowed Meredith bag herself a beautiful goal that drew the score level once more. Play was running from one end of the pitch to the other but Bex Utton proved too savvy for the UOE attackers to get beat and would easily filter the ball safely to the waiting S&B captain, Nicola Bryant, whose great positioning meant UOE had no chance of intercepting their passes. Tempers flared and a UOE girl was sent off once again forcing UOE to play on with only ten players. S&B sought to capitalise on the advantage and after a great run from midfield by Barker, Edmunds managed to nudged the ball passed the UOE goalie to take the lead late into the second half making the score 3-2, a lead they would hold on to until the final few minutes of the game as UOE managed to pull a third goal out of thin air just before full time, making the final score S&B – 3, UOE – 3.

S&B were put through their paces this week and after a shaky start S&B managed to maintain their unbeaten streak with a hard fought 3-3 draw. Player of the match was awarded unanimously to goalie Lisa Hawkins who truly kept S&B in the game with some incredible saves this week.

And of course, one must give an honourable mention to Ninja Queen Rachel Jeffery for protecting her S&B teammates when large, angry women attack (after they sit on the ball and then try to trap it with her feet?)!