Harborne 2nd XI 1 - 2 Old Silhillians 1st XI

Harborne 2nd XI 1 (1) - (1) 2 Old Silhillians 1st XI

Goalscorers: Caro Kappes; Priya Majevadia

The ladies travelled to Brimingham for an early start, with a bare 12 players (with only 33 players available across the who Ladies section this weekend). Having beaten the league leaders last week, this week they were taking on the team second in the league, but confident that they could keep up their good run of form.

The home side started brightly, and had the better of the early exchanges, creating a number of half-chances in the first five minutes, but a combination of strong defence by Claire Wright and Jess Cox, along with a calm head from Ali Williams in goal, meant that Harborne never really threatened too much.

As Sils began to play themselves into the game, Anya Hemming and Caro Kappes combined well down the right to create some good attacking opportunities, particularly allowing Noreen Afshan the chance to run at the defenders and this started paying dividends - the home keeper called upon to make a number of saves.

However, Harborne always looked sharp on the counter, and they had fast skillful forwards who were not afraid to attack the circle directly, and slightly against the run of play, they scored the opening goal, with their centre forward dancing into the D, and flicking home past the advancing Williams.

This raised the tempo of the home team, but Sophie Boyle continued to cover the hard yards, and won the ball back a number of times allowing Sils to counter, and within minutes they had won a couple of Penalty Corners. The first corner came to nothing, but the second, a straight strike from Frankie Levey caught their number one runner on the foot, causing Harborne to pause momentarily; the umpire decided to play on, believing the injured player was not in any danger and whilst the keeper saved the initial rebound shot, Caro Kappes fired home at the second attempt. This was just what was needed for Sils to wrestle the momentum back, and was exactly the type of decision that would have gone against the team in the first half of the season, but since Christmas, our luck has changed for the better!

The second half continued in a very similar vein to the first, lots of possession for Sils, with lots of attacking intent; often with Sils winning the ball back down their left side through Emily Hilton or Player of the Match Libby Shepherd and then using space on the right to cause problems for Harborne. However, the home keeper was having a fine game, and made several saves to frustrate Sils, and the home team still looked dangerous on the counter-attack. However, the way in which the team is developing and coming together as a unit was epitomised by one of these counter-attacks.

Harborne turned the ball over and were able to break at pace; the forward getting the wrong side of Claire Wright and running with purpose at goal. However, Wright did enough to channel the forward to Ali Williams' right - she in turn slid out expertly, and with her stick made an excellent tackle/save that played the ball to Jess Cox. Cox, looked up and played the ball to the right channel to Kappes, who in one movement, played the ball down the line to Lara Berardo who led out to the right wing. Berardo drew her defender and then played in Afshan, who drove to the D, and then passed across to Priya Majevadia who turned the ball home from close range. A superb team goal, and one deserving of taking the lead for the Sils.

Harborne did not give up though, and continued to press aggressively, but the defence held firm, and Williams always had shots covered when needed. Sils could have scored more if they have released the ball a little earlier around the attacking 23m, but all in all, a strong performance against a good side. Another 3 points, and this win saw the side move up to 6th in the league, and within touching distance of 5th (goal difference being the only difference currently).

A home match next week, and the teams with more players available, so fingers crossed for another strong performance.