Old Silhillians 1 (0) - (1) 1 Atherstone Adders 3rd XI

Goalscorer: Jess Bray

The Ladies 4th XI, in their first ever league season, continue to develop and improve. Facing an Atherstone side that they had lost to 1-0 a few weeks earlier, the Sils knew what to expect; an organised defence with an imposing GK, looking to defend deep and clear the ball high to their one or two speedy forwards.

That is exactly how the game went, and with Jess Bray volunteering to play in goal, she actually did not have a huge amount to do, with the Sils dominating possession but all to often falling into the trap of trying to play through the resolute defending of the visiting team, rather than around them.

Atherstone scored about mid-way through the half, a long ball being latched onto by one of the young visiting forwards and she ran clear of the home defence and slotted home past Bray.

At half-time it was decided to go on the offensive, and ditch the goalkeeper, with discussion around making sure players made sure they got the ball under control (which was difficult in the wet conditions) and played forward with more urgency. This paid immediate dividends with Sils able to play much higher up the pitch, with Bray beginning to pull strings in the middle, and the Sils camping in the visiting team's half. However, time and again, the Atherstone defenders were in the way, and able to smash the ball clear; on one occasion catching the Sils defence out, but this time Louisa Tchakhotine was on hand to stop the half-shot from the Adders' attacker to keep the deficit to 1 goal. However, more determined running into corners by Olivia Hallworth and Arlene Croydon, combined with some strong dribbling by Lily Mae Watson definitely started shifting the game in favour of SIls.

With about 5 minutes to go, and the Adders' defence visibly tiring, Sils raised their game again, and Bray went on a run, combined beautifully with Mia Conduit on the right, who exchanged passes around the Goalkeeper and allowed Bray to slot home from close range to secure the equaliser, and a first league point for the Sils 4ths.