Spalding Ladies 3s vs March Town 1s
On a frozen, sunny morning, Spalding Ladies 3s hosted the top-of-the-league March Town 1s. Spalding always knew this was going to be a tough game but held their own from the start. They made some beautiful passes around the March players, and a ball across the goal from Sam Foston saw MOM Elouise Doughty leap forward to connect her stick and secure Spalding’s first goal. This brought the score to 1-0, much to March’s surprise. Spalding managed to hold March off until a lucky ball found their strongest player, who made it past Grace Hodgett in defence to equalise at 1-1. Shortly after, March managed to score again, leaving Spalding 2-1 down.
Spalding were not fazed by this and worked hard to recover the scoreline. Some beautiful passing between Poppy Hooker and Jess Bail-Bedford on the left saw the ball enter the D to Lucy McClements, but the March goalkeeper kept the ball out. Before the halftime whistle, March scored two more goals, bringing the score to 4-1.
After an ever-encouraging halftime talk from managers Sally Pilgrim and Charlotte Morris, Spalding Ladies came out strong. Their perseverance showed from the whistle, with Chloe P taking the ball around several March players to give the forwards a chance to score. Unfortunately, Spalding couldn’t find the back of the net.
Despite the efforts of Kirsty Gammons, Terri Robinson, and Holly Gleave in defence, March were able to score two more goals past a very busy goalkeeper, Eliza Morris, leaving the score at 6-1.
Undeterred, Spalding Ladies saw a ball from Kelly Tizzano enter the D. After some scrambling, Jess Worth managed to slip it past the keeper, scoring Spalding’s second goal of the game, 6-2. Spalding found their stride, dominating March with textbook play and passing the ball wide to winger Jessica Pilgrim. Pilgrim’s long legs and fast pace carried the ball into the attacking D, but forward Khloe Brewster was unable to get past the March goalkeeper.
Despite dominating possession for much of the game, Spalding conceded two more goals to March. The final whistle saw Spalding Ladies 3s lose 8-2.
Spalding are immensely proud of their performance against such a formidable foe. They aim to maintain this level of play for the rest of the season to bring home some points. Next week, they face an away match against Wisbech.