On 29th February the ladies 4's faced a strong 4th in table Teddington 7's side at home. Ashford battled hard to keep them at bay in the first half and made some strong attacks on goal - a strike from forward Sue Westlake was just saved off the line by their keeper. Ashford's defence found themselves busy with multiple short corners in a row - all saved by a mixture of Beth Jefferies in goal, some great number 1 running from Lucie and stops on the line by Megan. Unfortunately, in the next set of short corners, one just slipped past on the left post taking the 4s 0 -1 down. Soon after, Ashford were awarded a free hit outside the D, Jackie Parsons took it quickly, taking the defence by surprise, surged into the D and fired a cracking goal into the left top corner of the netting. A fine example of how to score an amazing goal by ladies coach Jackie! Just before half time, Jackie took another hard strike at the top of the D and the ball deflected off a defenders stick into the goal.
Some excellent play down the wings saw some quick passing from Amy Coppin, Leah Fiddes-Kapadia and Rebecca Mouldoon to keep the momentum high. The score at half time stood at 2 -1 to Ashford. As the whistle blew at the start of the second half, Teddington were quick to win a short corner and a great strike saw them level the score. Despite some excellent defending from the Gemma Pyle, Christine Thompson, Megan Connell and Lucie Stevens, Teddington scored another goal to creep ahead. Talia Thompson was distributing the ball well in the middle of the pitch out wide to create some more excellent attacks from Leah, Sue and the rest of the forwards. Another goal from the opposition saw a final score of 2-4 in a well fought game with some excellent hockey.
Unfortunately, lack of availability caused the 4's to have to concede their game against Hendon and Mill Hill 2's on 7th March. This resulted in the team being disqualified from division 3 which is devastating to the whole ladies section. However, there were only a few games left to play and it is likely that the games will be played as friendlies. Despite the losses and setbacks, Ashford were showing just how much the team were improving. In recent matches the goals against numbers had drastically reduced compared to the first half of the season. With this confidence in mind, the 4's played what was to be their final game at home on 14th March against Eastcote 5's, to be played as a friendly. From the start, Ashford showed much better structure in their formation and maintained this discipline throughout the match. Ashford were rewarded by an excellent field goal from Ellie Watson and as the whistle ended the first half the score was level at 1 - 1. The second half saw Ashford continue to play really well as a team and denied all chances that Eastcote created. Megan Connell was not only fantastic in defence, she stepped up to take a penalty flick and scored! Ashford were ecstatic when the final whistle went, and they had won 2 - 1! The 4's are looking forward to being back in division 3 next season.
'Star player of the month' goes to Sue Westlake who recently celebrated her 70th birthday. Sue plays and trains every week and was delighted with her hockey montage given to her by her teammates.
