Ladies 1's Match Report

The start of the season wasn't the greatest for the ladies 1's as they travelled away to play Brentwood. Due to heavy traffic there was very little time for a warm up and when the whistle blew for the start of the game Hertford were looking lethargic. They let Brentwood dominate for the entirety of the first half and despite successfully defending a number of short corners Brentwood managed to put away two goals leaving Hertford trailing at half time. Forward Sian Foster gave the half time team talk and highlighted what needed to change. As the whistle blew for the start of the second half Hertford knew what they needed to do. They came from nowhere to turn the game around completely. They held most possession of the ball and were loud on the pitch, frightening the opposition into making silly mistakes and giving the ball away. The first goal came from an initial shot at goal which was deflected by the keeper and then forced into the back of the net by forward Leah Wilkerson. A short corner won shortly after that was a straight strike by Foster which slammed into the backboard before the keeper knew it had passed her feet. Hertford's pacey attacks on goal continued with superb crosses by Helen Owen and a great ball in from Jen Heath saw Foster put another one across the line. Unfortunately for Hertford, the Brentwood umpires were consistent in their decisions and claimed not to see the goal so the score remained level at 2-2 with less than 5 minutes to go. An attack by Brentwood won them a short corner which swiftly led to another one and despite Brentwood playing football in the goal prior, a save by Teresa Bartram on the floor gave Brentwood a penalty flick which they scored convincingly. There was no time for Hertford to recover with less than a minute to play and Hertford left disappointed with a start of the league loss. The positives however showed Hertfords determination to fight back and lesson learnt in starting strong from the off.