Sils stunned at the Heath

Sils attacked from the off with the forwards having plenty of passes which cut through the Hampton defence. Short corner after short corner were amassed without achieving a clinical finish. Kat Berns was weaving her magic in the middle of the park and another mesmerising run on 25 minutes resulted in yet another short corner and a near miss. From the restart Naomi Ennis quickly pressed the Hampton defence and stole the ball from the defender, advanced into the D before calmly drilling the ball past the keeper for a deserved lead.

With 5 minutes before the break both Ruth Dovey and Becky Bakewell were brought off for a breather and in this instance the whole context of the game changed. With the defensive spine of the team missing the leadership suddenly vanished and before Sils could react they had suddenly conceded two goals from two solitary Hampton attacks and were in complete disarray.

Putting the first half in context Sils had amassed 10 short corners, had 90% of the play but were trailing!

The game plan changed dramatically in the second half with Sils having to chase the game, confidence evaporated and passes were starting to be misplaced. The defence was overworked as Hampton’s probing through balls found space for their fast running forwards to chase down.

The central defensive partnership of Becky Bakewell and Kate Huntington stood firm but when breached Joanne Brett in the Sils goal was forced to race to the top of the D to prevent further problems occurring and was called on again shortly after to thwart further attacks. But Hampton still managed to score a further two goals. Sils were able to create a further six short corners in the second half but still no end product.

Hampton managed their first short corner on 30 minutes which was comfortably cleared by Brett and the defence.

With time running out Sils were awarded a penalty flick for an infringement on the line but with the chance to make the score a little less dismal the flick was pulled wide. The whistle blew for the end of the game and then the rain started, not a good day at the Heath.

There were some positives though with youngsters Georgina Jones and Clara Miles both showing that they can survive and contribute at this level.