After a very long festive break a squad of 11 took to the pitch to kick start the New Year in style! Playing Portsmouth University at HMS Temeraire it looked like it was going to be a very interesting game…
The first half meant a lot of running for legs unused to this after all the turkey; with great passes from the back going up the line to the front and movement across the pitch as well, it surely couldn’t be long before our first goal of the second half of the season? However, several scrambles in front of the goal from Becca and My-Linh and Abi meant a couple of near misses.

Play continued in the attacking half and we were soon rewarded with a short corner… A good strong ‘one’ from Becca meant our first goal had at last been scored!

After a great pep talk during half time we made sure we came back fighting! With great possession in our half we had another two goals in one from a short corner from Joey and another sweet shot from Becca. 

The support from the sideline helped keep the fighting spirit going; a few close calls at the back forced Jude to show off her fancy footwork to stop the ball from going over the line but great teamwork between Jude, Chez, Gayna and Nat meant that the ball was cleared quickly. 

With Support from Coolio and Emma, their were strong runs from the mids and forwards helping the ball to work its way back up to our attacking half earning us two more goals; one brilliant set up from Emma to let Becca sweep the ball into the goal (hat trick!) and a great set up from Becca to feed the ball for Sarah to score the fifth goal of the match (and her first for Waterside Ladies!).

More strong play meant we kept possession and kept the pressure on the Portsmouth Uni, another goal was bound to happen with our last one of the match coming from Becca again!

The team definitely worked off those turkeys and earned brownie points with this match! First win of the second half of the season and maintaining the top spot! It was a great game to kick start the Siders off – the New Year’s resolution is still going strong! POM was given to Sarah.

Well played everyone!

By Sarah