Old Silhillians 4 - 1 Telford & Wrekin 2nd XI

Old Silhillians 4 (2) - (0) 1 Telford & Wrekin 2nd XI

Goalscorers: Caro Kappes, Frankie Levey, Noreen Afshan, Priya Majevadia

Having beaten the top two sides in the division in the previous two weeks to keep their survival hopes alive, Sils went into this game with a strong side, and hopes of keeping up their winning run.

The Telford side that travelled to The Silhillians was very different to that which we played just before Christmas, and had a lot of youth mixed in with one or two older heads.

The Sils started strongly, and Caro Kappes, Anya Hemming and Lara Berardo were soon combining down the right to create some half chances for the home side. However, the visiting keeper was on top form, and was able to repel a number of efforts in the first ten minutes. Sils were able to press high up the field, though were occasionally getting caught out by the long ball technique of their opposition, relying upon a number of their fast, skillful, young forwards to cause some occasional worries for the Sils backline, though Jess Cox and Claire Wright were always able to do just about enough, in conjunction with Ali Williams in goal, to keep a clean sheet.

Meanwhile, Sils continued to create chances, and Caro Kappes scored the opening goal with a typical dancing run followed by a trademark reverse stick strike, in the end fortuitously deflecting off the defender who had positioned herself directly in front of the goalkeeper, to open the scoring for the home side. A few minutes later, and the Sils had their second - the predatory Frankie Levey showing the benefits of always having your stick down in the D, as she diverted a strongly hit pass from Noreen Afshan through the inside-left channel into the goal.

Half-time, and with some work to do on the attacking press to stop the long ball threat, but everything seemed totally under control at 2-0, and the visiting keeper keeping her side in the game.

However, Telford shifted their formation a little, and came out all guns blazing. Sils, for some reason, then all decided to panic on the ball, and the game's momentum shifted significantly. It suddenly became a defensive heavy performance, with Ali Williams making a number of saves, and Jess Cox continuing to make some strong tackles, but it was not long before Telford scored their well deserved goal - their best young player waltzing through the home defence and slipping the ball underneath the oncoming Williams in fine style.

The Sils were suddenly in less control of this game than they had been for several weeks, but a much needed shift in the balance of the game came when the Telford goalscorer, rather needlessly, hit the ball away having conceded a small foul in the middle of the pitch. This led to her having a two minute beak, during which time, Sils wrested control back of the game. Frankie Levey found space down the right and as she drove into the D, the ball came loose, and Afshan in predatory fashion turned the ball home from close range. Not too much time passed, and whilst Telford were back up to full strength, a well worked Penalty Corner (where the players actually listened to a suggestion from the coach!) led to Sils scoring a fourth a killing off the game - with Priya Majevadia turning home at the far post after Lauren Hobday had fired the ball to the danger area.

A few more half chances came and went for both teams, but nothing really threatened either goal too much, and the three points remained with Sils.

Sophie Boyle, for her non-stop running, and continuous support of both attack and defence won the player of the match vote, ahead of strong support for Jess Cox and Lauren Hobday.

Three games to go, and the fate of the side is now very much in their hands....