Some hanging on in there and some flying
L1s 1-3
L2s 3-1
L3s 2-1
L4s 0-7
L5s 2-1 (1st in 4SW)
L6s 11-1 (1st in 4SE)
L7s 3-3
L8s 0-0
1’s v Norwich City 1’s (East Prem 4th)
1-3
Bishop’s Stortford Ladies 1s slipped to their third consecutive loss with a 3-1 loss at home to Norwich City. The game started disastrously for Stortford as they conceded yet another early goal from a short corner when a mishit shot found its way to an unmarked attacker at the far post who made no mistake. To their credit, Stortford grew into the game strongly but once again, their finishing was found wanting and they ended the half 1-0 down. The second half saw Stortford dominate both possession and territory but once again poor defending allowed Norwich to double their lead. Stortford responded strongly and pulled a goal back through 14 year old Daisy Fox. Unfortunately the comeback was short lived as Norwich once again pounced on poor play from Stortford to score a third. Stortford had further chances but were wasteful with their opportunities and the game ended 3-1. Stortford have a double header next weekend against Chelmsford and City of Peterborough and will be hoping for 2 morale boosting victories.
2’s v Crostyx 1’s (1S 7th)
3-1
PoM Claire Farley
Clinical finishing from short corners was the difference as Stortford boosted their chances of maintaining their Div 1S status with a calm and measured performance against Crostyx.
With only a handful of games left, Stortford knew 3 points would be valuable but in what looks to be a tight finish to the season.
A formation switch saw Stortford looking more secure in defence whilst posing an attacking threat,
The game moved from end to end, both sides having chances with Stortford first to score, Fiona Mulder’s sweep from a penalty corner, grazing the keeper’s toe and going in at the far post. Crostyx then equalised before half time, scoring on the break.
The second half saw an assured and solid performance from Stortford’s defence, including some crucial interventions from POTM Claire Farley ensured Crostyx were limited to one goal
Stortford netted twice more from set plays, Anna Sydes deft touch deflecting in in front of the keeper from Mulder’s pass, before on form Mulder added her second of the game, smashing in a lifted ball from another corner to grab all 3 points.
The win moves Stortford up to 7th in the table.
3’s v St Alban’s 4’s (2SW 8th)
2-1
Goals for Ali Chadwick & Charlotte Range
PoM: Beth Moore
Bishops STORTFORD L3s started brightly and applied pressure to the St Albans defence. The away side were rewarded early with a short corner. Katy Motson got a deflection on the shot from Issy Good but keeper made a great save which Ali Chadwick picked up and undercut into the goal. Lots of good play from all of the STORTFORD players led to them coming in 1-0 up at half time.
Early in the 2nd half a lapse in concentration gave St Albans the break they were looking for to pull it back to 1-1. Just as it looked as though both sides were going to have to settle for a draw some brilliant hassling from Evie Chidgley gave Katy Motson the opportunity to jab tackle the ball from the St Albans midfield. Evie picked it up and put a great ball through to Charlotte Range who went 1 on 1 with the keeper deftly slipping it through her legs to give STORTFORD the much needed 3 points. The whole side really stepped up today and it was difficult to award one player of the match but Beth Moore took the accolade for her composure on the ball and passing under pressure.
4’s v Hertford 1’s (Saturday)
0-7
v Harpenden 1’s (Sunday)(2SW 12th)
0-1
The ladies 4s took on the Hertford 1s on Saturday in their first match of a double header weekend. In the first half Stortford showed some strong defending and switching play from the back. Catherine Clune and Kess Levy showed good strength and composure from the back and down the wings. In the second half we couldn’t retain enough possession to lift the relentless pressure and our opponents stepped up a gear. Our poor marking when we didn’t have the ball as a team, left us badly exposed and we quickly derailed meaning it was a second half to forget. The end score was 0-7 (0-1 at half time).
The ladies 4s played their rearranged game against Harpenden 1s on Sunday afternoon. After a disappointing performance on Saturday the team were raring to go and came out fighting. Everyone played with great determination and spirit and despite losing 1-0 in the dying minutes of the game it was one of their best performances all season.
5’s v Berkhamsted & Hemel (4SW 1st)
2-1
PoM Charlotte Pettit and Jo Sullivan
It was a dry, fair-weathered day, as Bishops Stortford 5s faced Berkhamsted 2s at Hockerill. With having previously suffered an unlucky loss against them, Stortford came determined to come out with a win. The game began with Stortford out strong, however, Berkhamsted managed to score a lucky break away goal quite early on, due to their fast forwards out front. Despite the scoreline, Stortford continued to stay positive and managed to put a large amount of pressure onto the Berkhamsted defence. At this time, the forwards; Laura McBride, Izzy Lawrence, Eva Sanderson and Yolande Notley did an excellent job of keeping the ball in the opponents 23, by having an effective press.
With pressure mounting against Berkhamsted, Amelia Leach did some great runs down the sideline, and both Hannah Witchalls and Elizabeth Clune delivered exceptional through balls for the forwards to run on to. Nearing the end of the first half, as a result of a short corner, the team managed to level the score with a superb goal from Jo Sullivan. Moments later, the whistle was blown and we went into halftime with the score level, at one all.
As the second half commenced, it looked like it could go either way, however Stortford began to dominate, eager for another goal. Sully’s work-rate and Charlotte Pettit’s link up play from midfield helped to keep the game going Stortford’s way. This meant that we managed to exert sustained pressure on the opponents, despite the few breakaway chances they had. These chances were skilfully dealt with by the defensive unit; Nadia El-Zanafay, Claire Holmes and Liv Figg, who were directed by LoriMorrison in goal.
Our efforts culminated in a triumphant second goal by Laura. This meant the score was at 2-1, and Stortford were ahead. In response, Berkhamsted were fired up, looking for another goal, resulting in a lot of pressure on us in the last ten minutes. Fortunately, the Stortford defence held strong in the final minutes, and we ended the match with a win. The players of the match were Sully and Charlotte, for great work in the midfield. Well done all!
6’s v Old Southendians 3’s (4SE 1st)
11-1
PoM: Savannah Taylor
L6’s had another trip to Southend, this time up against Old Southendians 3.
We knew we needed to get an early goal to try and settle any nerves, thankfully that came after Lois Wright passed the ball in to Vicky, who put the ball past the keeper only 3 mins into the game.
Stortford continued to dominate and at 12 mins Hannah hit a cracking shot from close to the right hand baseline and managed to get the ball into the top left corner of the goal! On the sideline we couldn’t see if it had gone in the goal or hit the side netting, thankfully a goal was signalled and Stortford were now 2-0 up. We re-set and gained possession quickly with a 16 hit out, Jo Newman hit a fantastic ball all the way up the left hand side to forward Mary Sanders who again had lovely space and passed it into Vicky Randazzo in the D, a quick 1-2 with Hannah Wynne, Vicky rolled strong and struck the ball from the right hand side and Stortford were 3-0 up with only 16 minutes played.
OS we’re not giving up and tried to make a few breaks to goal but our fabulous defenders Eliza Andrews, Jo N and Alana Baldwin managed to keep them at bay. However, at 30 mins their key player managed to put one past GK Emma Yanakieva and the score was now 3-1. Stortford wanted to get another goal before half time after missing quite a few opportunities and this came on 35 mins when Grace McKelvey made a run from midfield and passed to Lois Wright who slotted it past the keeper, 4-1 going into half time.
Half time talk was positive, captain Claire Smith said we can score more in the second half, she wasn’t expecting what happened!
Only 2 minutes into the half Stortford got a short corner, having not capitalised on the 5 in the first half, Savannah Taylor injected the ball to Hannah who slipped to Vicky on the right and Stortford were 5-1 up and Vicky now on a hatrick. Only a minute later Stortford had another 16, with Jo stepping up to take it and Hannah with lovely space at the other end of the pitch there was only one place this hit out was going! The ball flew up the pitch where Hannah ran to receive and after a couple of saved efforts from OS defence Hannah got a tap in off the left post.
OS tried another attack from the re-start but that was quickly stopped and Stortford were on the attack again. Mary received the ball on the right from Savannah and ran to baseline where she made a perfect pass across the D to Hannah who netted again giving her a hatrick too.
Some nice play continued but OS came back a few times but they were stopped by Martha Trist, Lexie Baird, Grace McKelvey and Lisa Woodrow in midfield.
Mary was in possession again and passed the ball into Lois in the D who scored again giving her a brace. Stortford weren’t done yet! 1 minute later Lisa was on ball and ran into the D where she was stopped by OS defence, the ball came back out only for Lisa to collect it again, run into the D and hit the ball towards goal and scored, 9-1 to Stortford. Claire was thinking it would be nice to get to 10 goals as we hadn’t scored that many in a match yet this season. Vicky must have read her mind as a few minutes later the ball was passed from midfield up to her who was clear on goal and after a 1 on 1 with the keeper she effortlessly put the ball in the goal 10-1. Vicky now on 4 goals, Hannah decided she wanted some more so after a scuffle in the D at 64 mins she got a reverse tap in off a rebound from the keeper to make her goal tally 4 and Stortford were now 11-1 up!
The scoring ended here, very satisfied with the efforts of the whole team, quite a few who had stepped up from the 7s due to low availability this week but all who contributed to a fantastic away win. This keeps 6s in top spot by 3 points in 4SE and an impressive goal difference of 70!
POM was awarded to Savannah Taylor.
7’s v St Alban’s 6’s (5SW 8th)
3-3
PoM Ella Draper
7s were away at Oaklands college for the second time this season this time playing their 6’s
The game started with a bit of pressure from St Albans forcing a penalty corner in the first 3 min, thankfully nothing came of it and we settled ourselves sending the play back down our end resulting in two penalty corners in quick succession.
Although we dominated the game, St Albans managed to score at 20 minutes. Defence held their ground for the rest of the first half with some good defensive work from Naomi Holloway and Kaitlin Range despite being outnumbered. Half ended with a great free hit from Kaitlin up to Scout Neville driving it forward putting pressure back on St Albans.
The first 20 minutes of the second half saw us start putting pressure on St Albans with the first Stort goal coming at 41 minutes from a great cross from Grace Gladen to Scout Neville who smashed it at the goal (with a little touch) from Kim Durbin to ensure the goal landed firmly at the back of the net!
St Albans attacked back with keeper Ella Draper (in her first match since breaking her finger)making a great save on the left, however St Albans quickly played the ball round the D striking the ball to the right of Ella and getting their second goal (44min).
We put the pressure back on and after 4 minutes Beth Metson skilfully played the ball around St Albans defence confidently striking the ball past the keeper putting evening the score to 2 -2. (48min).
11 minutes later St Albans scored from a penalty corner after an unlucky deflection off Scout Neville’s stick.
Feeling the frustration of falling back behind we put the pressure back on. Creating good opportunities including a penalty corner at 56 min hit out by Kaitlin with a great strike from Scout just going wide.
We evened up the score at 66 minutes with another great goal from Beth (a replica of her first for anyone that had missed it).
Game ended 3-3 which was a probably fair (albeit slightly frustrating result).
Player of the match to Ella for several excellent saves in her first match back from injury, “keeping” us well and truly in the game.
8’s v St Alban’s 8’s (6SW 4th)
0-0
PoM Ella Draper
Another late game this week for BSHC ladies 8s team, away at St Albans.
With half term & pull-ups affecting 8s selection, the team took to the field in the rain with a leaner team and a lot of players out of their regular position.
St. Albans dictated the play for the first half, dragging play across to Stortford’s left and creating their own space. This placed pressure on the visitor’s defence team and dragged down players.
Despite a number of goal attempts from St Alban, none failed to get past the goal line. Seeing both teams reach half time with no goals.
A positive team talk and a recap from that week’s training session at half time saw Stortford come out focused and regrouped.
The second half seemed more evenly- balanced. Stortford played in good form with a solid formation and long accurate passing. Communication was clear and passing was on target.
Stortford’s Megan Laws hit a ball into the goal but the save from the home team’s defender, across the line, was not seen and the goal was not awarded. A further goal on target from Jemima Osmond was disallowed and it seemed that despite the best efforts of the team, Stortford couldn’t get one to stick.
The home team turned the game on the attack, and despite a large number of short corners in repeated succession being awarded to them, the ladies 8s defence team held strong with some fantastic saves from the keeper Ella Draper and the whistle blew with the final score 0-0.
Player of the match was awarded to GK Ella D, who doubled up on her first Saturday back from injury.
