So it was a wet start to waterside’s first game of the season but despite the conditions the team were optimistic and upbeat. The siders came under alot of pressure during the first five minutes but soon found their feet and mounted strong attacks against Basingstoke. This pressure was rewarded mid way through the half when debutant Marie slotted in the siders first goal of the game!
Looking to capitalise on their lead the team pushed on but got caught on a good break by Basingstoke and the first half ended 1-1.
The second half saw a change in umpires (thanks Coolio) and Cherry came on to the pitch. Basingstoke started the half strongly and in quick succesion, scored 2 goals (hopefully no correlation here!). Continued pressure from stoke forced siders’ defence to stand strong and brought some good saves from Tina in goal. The sheilds (Emma and Ellis) worked hard and showed great commitment to defend strongly. As the ball broke in watersides favour, a lovely passing move allowed Katie to top off a great all round performance and put a lovely cross into Stoke’s D which Sian got on the end of making the score 3-2.
For the remaing 20 minutes all of the pressure came from the siders, with Becca winning numerous short corners and the forwards showing good hold up play, the whole team was pushing for the win, the only thing elluding us was that final goal.
The game finished 3-2, a disspointing result but with it being the first game of the season and a new formation in play, it was a positive performance to build on for a win next week.
Very deservidly POM this week was jointly won by Emma, Becca and Katie. All three worked exceptionally hard throughout the game to gain posession and create goal scoring opportunities, well done ladies.

remember… strive for excellence…settle for Waterside!

The only thing left to say is as a team we wish good luck to Alex who will be taking on the Bournemouth marathon tomorrow for a very worth while cause and look forward to her rejoining the ranks!