At a glance
L1s 3-0
L2s 5-3
L3s 0-1
L4s 0-1
L5s 1-0 (1st in 4SW)
L6s 4-3 (1st in 4SE)
L7s 0-3
L8s DNP
L9s 1-4
1s v Chelmsford 1’s (East Premier – 3rd)
3-0
PoM: Lexie Guthrie
After some disappointing results in recent weeks Stortford ladies 1s were determined to get a win this weekend playing away at Chelmsford. The team and supporters brought a strong positive attitude and dominated the game from the whistle. Chelmsford tried a half court press in the first half and Lexie Guthrie and the team handled this brilliantly. Composure on the ball was excellent throughout the game. Stortford were soon rewarded for their dominance with a flick. Liv Smerdon stepped up and sent one blistering into the bottom right corner to see Stortford go 1-0 up. A strong press to turnover the ball and textbook passing led to the 2nd goal for Stortford from Gracie Cowan to see the Blues go into half time 2-0 ahead.
With a game plan for more of the same Stortford started strong again but an occasional break in play saw Chelmsford threatening to score. Some solid short corner defending and an impressive goal line save from Lexie Guthrie to earn her man of the match meant Stortford held onto their clean sheet. Stortford continued to use their passing game to dominate and a 3rd goal with 9 mins to go meant they could close out the game.
An awesome team performance and a well-deserved win for Bishop’s Stortford.
2’s v Havering 1’s (1S, 7th)
5-3
PoM: Pilar Montu
A hat trick from Sally Powell and a brace from Fiona Mulder saw Stortford clinch their second win in a row as they look to secure their place in the league for next season.
With Havering needing a win to avoid being relegated, they started quickly, applying early pressure to the Stortford defence. Stortford remained composed against a physical team and found their way into the game. Powell opening the scoring mid way through the half, before deflecting a second at the post from Fiona Mulder’s pinpoint pass to put Stortford 2-0 up. A lapse in concentration saw Havering break to pull one back, before equalising minutes later from a well drilled short corner routine. Stortford’s 2 goal cushion wiped out in a matter of minutes.
The second half saw Stortford again take a two goal lead, Powell bagging her hat trick and Mulder pouncing on a loose defensive pass, running into the d and hitting home to make it. 4-2. Havering again found the net from a corner, pulling it back to 4-3. With minutes remaining they were throwing everything at Stortford, anxious moments as a loose ball in the d looked to be about to fall to a Havering forward to hit home for the equaliser, but in stepped player of the match Pilar Montu with a stunning interception. Turning defence into attack she calmly took the ball and clearing up the pitch to Millie Andrews, who took on several players before playing the ball into the d for Mulder to direct into the goal to make it 5-3 and give Stortford all 3 points.
Stortford, sitting seventh, need just one more win from three games to be absolutely clear of any relegation threat, but in an incredibly tight league, they are also only four points off third place!
3’s v Berkhamsted and Hemel (2SW, 8th)
0-1
Potm Beth Moore
Stortford started the match in a very lack lustre state, allowing the visitors to run with the ball and command the play. A stern team talk saw the home side sprint out of the blocks. Katy Motson, Issy Good and Jemma Pettit put pressure on their push back and turned over play, winning several short corners on the trot. Grace Grindrod’s strike was going in bottom corner but a Berkhamsted foot prevented the goal. Another short corner but some heroic defending from the visitors kept it out. A rare break in the 2nd half saw the visitors awarded with a short corner. This was slipped to the left & Sophie Higgins managed to get a touch on it which deflected it wide of Ali Martyn and took Caitlin Wootton by surprise as it lifted then bobbled into the bottom corner. Stortford continued to apply the pressure with some great runs and thoughtful passes from player of the match Beth Moore & Grace Grindrod but unfortunately it was not to be the home sides day. It has been duly noted that they need to turn up for the whole of the match not just the second half.
4’s v Stevenage (2SW, 12th)
0-1
PoM: Zara Atkinson
The ladies 4s put on a sterling performance versus Stevenage 1s today. It was a fast paced, back and forth game that kept us all on our toes. Unfortunately Stevenage scored a fabulous goal off a short corner midway through the second half and then proceeded to get a few more chances but POM Zara Atkinson had an outstanding game in goal to keep us in the game and the end score was 1-0 to Stevenage.
5’s v Harpenden (4SW, 1st)
1-0
PoM: Yolande Notley and Maddie Lucas
We warmed up in the rain for our match against Harpenden but it soon cleared leaving a rather sunny day. An interesting pitch full of sand caused Stortford to think tactics early – deciding on short passes in the incredibly slow conditions.
The ball started in Harpenden’s possession with a quick attack onto Stortford. Well shepherded out by Maddie Lucas, we tried our first attack however due to unfamiliarity with the pitch we were unable to retain the ball with a quick interception from Harps. Struggling with speed of the pitch, Stort became stuck in their defensive half but the score line remained 0-0 with great work from defenders Catherine Clune, Liv Figg, Maddie Lucas and Eliza Andrews and of course goalie, Hannah Reynolds. Managing to slowly work the ball up the pitch Stortford had their first proper attack capitalised on very well by Yolande Notley with a swift slap into goal (helping to earn her PoM). On the restart Harpenden came back hard but a run down the wing from Catherine interrupted their play with Megan Maybanks supporting. Harpenden won it back with a counter attack where Stortford conceded a questionable short. Stortford defence stayed strong with Maddie controlling the game clearing it again as the half term whistle blew.
Stortford had possession in the beginning of the second half with some great running in the middle from Eva Sanderson and Liv Brierley. Together they created chances and won shorts that Stortford failed to convert. Stortford now getting the hang of the pitch began a run of attacking play with some great long balls from Eliza on her debut for the 5s. Forwards Yolande, Marni Cochrane, Charlotte Turner and Laura McBride worked together to great some great opportunities but special mention to Yolande for her joint PoM this week. Harpenden still looked dangerous with some quick counter attacks along their wings but they were well slowed down and then cleared by Maddie who is the other half of our joint PoM this week. The second half finished quite uneventfully with no more goals scored and so Stortford won 1-0 after an early first goal.
Congratulations to all who played in an important win in the top of the league race. Special well done to Yolande and Maddie for their PoMs this week!
6’s v Old Southendians 2’s (4SE, 1st)
POM: Grace McKelvey.
At last the rain had stopped for the Stortford Ladies 6s as they began what would be a fiercely competitive match against Old Southendian 2s.
Knowing we needed to get an early goal, Stortford applied pressure onto Old Southendians, keeping the ball in our attacking half for some time. The forward line, consisting of Lois Wright, Hannah Wynne and Vicky Randazzo remained calm and collective, ensuring that Stortford linked up and used each other to make the ball do the work. Within the first 2 minutes, Vicky slipped a perfectly placed ball into the D for Grace McKelvey to pick up and take a one on one with the Old Southendians goalkeeper, slotting the ball into the left corner. The score was now 1-0.
Old Southendians came back with more determination and began to make runs into our half and indeed our defensive D. However, defender Alana Baldwin made some solid block tackles and worked together with her midfield teammate, Martha Trist, to move the ball back to our attacking half. Lois, playing left forward, was consistently available as a follow up pass for Martha to use and this meant that Stortford created some wonderful leads down the left hand side. Meanwhile on the right hand side, defender Claire Holmes found Savannah Taylor patiently waiting on the wing, who made some great attacks towards Vicky.
After another attack down the wing from Grace, Stortford managed to find a foot in the D and won the only Stortford short corner of the game at 10 minutes. Jess Ashford – Green injected the ball with speed and accuracy to Grace, who cracked the ball against the right corner of the goal. Stortford were now 2-0.
Stortford continued to pressure the opposition and luckily Martha made a breakthrough and ran down the wing, slipping the ball to Lois who found Hannah waiting on the P spot. Hannah scored with ease and gave Stortford another goal to add to the score. Old Southendians were relentless in their attacks on goal for the remainder of the half, contrasting the rather sluggish theme running through Stortford. This meant that the midfield line consisting of Izzy Lawrence, Savannah Taylor, Grace McKelvey and Sarah Tough had to work as a team to win back possession of the ball. Yet, in this pressurised situation, leading fullback Jo Newman remained calm and repeatedly gave clear instructions for Stortford to follow in order to successfully break on the attack again.
A clear teamtalk from captain Claire Smith at halftime enabled Stortford to identify the weaknesses in their play, giving some suggestions for improvement.
Stortford came into the second half with the same level of determination to match the first. Some lovely drives down the right wing from Jess Ashford-Green meant that we were able to keep hold of the ball in the Old Southendian D, with Vicky continuously maintaining dangerous positions for the opposition’s defenders to try and mark. Midfielder Izzy Lawrence wanted to join in on the attacks and was always available as an outlet for Stortford if the right pass ahead wasn’t there just yet. However we found ourselves under some more pressure as the Old Southendian midfield continued to make drives towards our D. Unfortunately they scored their first goal at 44 minutes on the clock.
Yet, defender Claire Holmes managed to keep control of the right wing and tenaciously tackled any player who dared go past her. Izzy Lawrence, dominating the midfield, created some amazing setups for Stortford to utilize after picking up the ball from some excellent jab tackles created by Sarah Tough in midfield. Old Southendians had a few shots on goal but superstar goalkeeper Izzy Jones deflected many of them with ease. Suddenly, Jo Newman took advantage of a 16 and fizzed the ball all the way from one end of the pitch to the other, flying straight through the Old Southendian press formation, finding several Stortford players in the Old Southendian D. After some scrambling in this area, Lois Wright managed to successfully slot the ball past the Old Southendian goalkeeper making the score now 4-1 to Stortford.
Although the ball seemed to get stuck in the left corner of our half, Savannah worked tirelessly to prevent the ball from entering the D. Several short corners were awarded to Old Southendians for infringements outside of the D, much to the amazement of Stortford. Although, the solid defense team of Jo Newman, Alana Baldwin, Claire Holmes, Izzy Lawrence and goalkeeper Izzy Jones incredibly kept out numerous short corners during the match!
Unfortunately Old Southendians put 2 goals in towards what was a very stressful ending to the match with the whole team having to work tirelessly together in order for Stortford not to concede again.
However, the final score was 4-3, another fantastic win for the Ladies 6s, who remain top of the table and go 5 points clear.
7’s v Hertford 3’s (5SW, 9th)
0-3
PoM: Laura Batchelor
A clash that potentially determines who finishes mid table and who finishes bottom end with Stortford Ladies 7s taking on Hertford 3s, the latter sitting 1 pace and 5 points ahead.
Hertford won the toss and took the first push quickly capitalising to score inside 4 minutes. Despite some great runs down the right from Charlie Woodrow and constant pressure in midfield from Scout Neville the Stortford chances couldn’t be converted. The Hertford keeper had a fantastic match stopping shot after shot.
Hertford were awarded a number of short corners with the defence working hard to clear. Eventually pressure overwhelmed and a second goal was conceded.
Half time and 2 goals down felt a harsh reflection on the match play. Hertford without a sub were disadvantaged by a player being taken ill playing the second half with only 10 players. Surely the 7’s could capitalise? Despite a couple of fast breaks from Scout who shot the ball into the D with great speed hitting the back ,board Stortford remained goal less. The young Hertford team kept the pressure up winning a short corner, 10 minutes into the second half and converting with precision from a straight strike.
Stortford continued to work hard utilising quick 1-2 passes, transferring round the back and keeping the ball in the Hertford 23 for much of the play, eventually winning a short corner. A Hertford defender broke the line and was sent back, a second Hertford defender broke the line and was sent back. Surely Stortford could get a goal back….. a straight strike from Emma Cox when over the line, hitting the net and disallowed for height.
Further chances, including getting the ball to the line but not over didn’t help Stortford’s cause and the match ended 3-0.
8’s NO GAME
9’s development side v Welwyn 4’s
1-4
