As the girls ambled onto the pitch there was a strong sense of, this is too early to care, with a chaser of, why are we so far from the coffee? Obviously not from the girls but at this point we didn’t care what the girls thought.
And although we might have had a full bench, (granted it was filled with Mums who refused to give up the seat or the spot in the sun) we were still a couple of players short on the field. Mika was busy finding a water bottle just for her, and Maddy was running late but that didn’t stop our Umpire for the day (Andy Gathercole) and he set the tone right from the get go by starting the game before we’d even finished running on.
Our slow start was all the Knights needed to sneak in the first goal of the game. In hindsight, it may have been the kickstart that we needed. And when I say “we” I obviously mean them, because Team Mother wasn’t moving an inch…
Daisy soon levelled the score with our first goal and a behind shortly afterwards. Mia K seemed to have a rediscovered her mojo and was clearing out well – any abandonment issues were being channelled into a dogged approach to her tackling. I’m not sure but someone said they heard her scream “take that Santorini” as she pulled down a girl twice her size.
Mia S was stopping any progress the Knights tried to make and before you knew it Maddy had added the second behind of the quarter.
While Andy recovered from the ball that Mika carefully placed in his face Callum and Pete encouraged the girls to Run hard and Go with your Gut and showed that they’re so cohesive as a coaching unit that they now finish each others sentences.
The second quarter was a blur of tackles from Lizzie, Mia S, Aliyah, Daisy and Lily. Mia K got two behinds and a goal. Towards the hooter we all got a scare as Shanti was smashed and started crying……nope my bad.. actually she was laughing and popped up without a scratch.
Please Note : If it seems like I’m a little thin on details for this quarter, you’re right. It all happened at the other end of the pitch, and, as I’ve mentioned Team Mother was on the bench and not moving. Also, before you start tut, tutting, by this point we’d ALL just started calling out our girls names in the hopes that they were somewhere near the ball.
After being reassured that they were “Marking out of their minds!” Coach Callum sent them out to crack on. Maddy took the ball and ran – the wrong way – but with conviction! Error corrected, Aliah took the mark of the game and Lizzie just kept on getting the big hits. Mika put the next goal on the board just before the Knights added another behind. It seems these Div 1 teams are a little more dogged in their approach to losing.
We readied for the final quarter with our instructions to defend and listen to Daisy because she was going to dictate the midfield – again, not a sexist secretarial comment, actual football lingo. Daisy was great in the ruck and Aliah was still a marking machine. It didn’t matter though because they got a goal quick smart, we had a couple of chances before Caitlyn got another goal for us. We very nearly got up to cheer but before we could they had scored again. Despite the Knights best efforts to throw us in the last quarter the hooter went and WE OFFICIALLY WON OUR FIRST GAME IN DIV 1. 28-18
BOG went to Daisy and Aliah.
Awards to Lizzie and Mia K.
Get well soon to Mika who was sick as a dog but ploughed on regardless.
