The ladies had a much improved weekend result wise writes Jax Batten..

The 3’s got the weekend off to a flier with an away game at Henley.  With their goalkeeper late to arrive, P&R took full advantage with 2 early goals by Hev Clements against a kicking back.  The 3’s piled on the pressure and even when Henley had chances to break ,the defence of Amelia Perry, Danni Sweeney, Kat Hohenauer and Lynne Newell were able to easily snuff out any sign of danger.  The side attacked well down the right with Fiona Rankin causing them annoyance with her pace, whilst down the left Barbie also played her part; joining in play when the ball was switched left. 

P&R got their third just before half time - Hev Clements getting her hat trick to give Stropps one of her easiest half time team talks ever!

In the 2nd half Henley came out fighting and were unlucky not to score but P&R’s 4th came from a classic counter attack against the run of play - Dee Merry assisting Hev again to get her 4th with some neat interplay upfront.  The team stay 3rd and look secure with only a few games left before Xmas break.

The 1’s were next up at home to Wallingford but sadly the scoreline was not as positive as the 3’s with a difficult 7-0 defeat.  Player of the Match was Charlotte Watt, coming into the team as a bench player and performing very well in her 20 minute spell.  Wallingford performed above expectations - with noticeably better fitness levels than P&R and some great individual performance in their central midfield roles. 

The Ladies 1’s are nearly halfway in the season and although its been tough going so far, there continues to be a positive team spirit which will bring results - if not this season, then the next! The team now sit 5 points adrift at the bottom of Prem 1 and face 3rd placed Maidenhead away on Saturday.  For a bit of light relief the team then travel to Oxsted in the Cup on Sunday having received a bye in the first round! Good luck for both games to the 1’s.

The last push back was at 4.30pm for the 2’s who have also been the ‘nearly’ team so far this season.  In rain and under floodlights the team started really brightly with some fresh faces on the pitch with Rachel Elven making her debut and Charlotte Watt and Esme Wallace also starting the match.  With some “yoof” on display the 2’s got stuck in during the first half and were making good use of the right wing again to get in behind Amersham and Chalfont’s defence, but as in other matches there was no end product and the team didn’t make the keeper work.

A&C got the opening goal after a goal mouth scramble and with their tails up Sharkey made a number of good saves supported by Tracy, Jackie C and Jax B in defence.  With 10 minutes to go and with encouragement from Tracy, Charlotte Watt grabbed hold of the game with a quickly taken self-pass from just over halfway which she drove straight to the edge of the D and onto Chick who didn’t even take a first touch before whacking it into the bottom left hand corner to get the equalizer!  The 2’s were chuffed with the result and the point taken may prove to be decisive later in the season.