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We played at our favourite ground today – Happy Valley.  Despite 4 days of sun it was a lovely sticky bog, and looked even worse after we had finished with it.

Last time we played Wainui it was a nil all draw.  We were after something a bit better this time, preferably a win but we settled for a 1 all draw.  Our first half wasn’t great.  For some reason we couldn’t get the ball out of our own half so spent way too much time defending.  Sharon did her great kung-fu style kicks so kept the ball away from the goal.  Ari also worked hard but had to go off with a pulled quad.

Unfortunately Wainui had a corner and a bit of ping-pong in the box meant we conceded a goal.  Our heads were down a bit after that but luckily half time wasn’t far away.

We had an inspiring half time speech from Danny, who assured us that the very light northerly breeze was really a two goal wind.  We got stuck in and it certainly showed. Jacqui did some awesome work down the wing, cleaning up any loose ball and running down the opposition.  Celia and Jenny M made some great charges out of the back line to pound the ball up field.  Liz as usual controlled the ball in midfield and won most of the 50 50’s.

We spent the second half in their goal box, making shot after shot – which unfortunately either went slightly wide or was charged down by the keeper.  Finally Jenny H had a moment of inspiration and perfectly positioned herself on the far post.  A great cross (sorry can’t remember who it was from but if it was you – it was awesome) saw Jenny calmly slot it into the back of the net and then break into a massive grin.  We may be hearing about this one for a while…

We tried for another goal but it seems there was a bit of a curse on our shots.  The keeper also had great positioning and certainly wasn’t afraid to take a ball in the face to save a goal (eh Wends).

Just to finish off – great work was done by all to header the ball (or in some cases nose or eye the ball, but as long as it goes in the right direction it all counts).  Congratulations to Jenny H who had an awesome game all round and was the only one who managed to break that damned curse.

Jo Garland