The longish journey and freezing cold rain were a bad combination for us on a thoroughly depressing away trip to Oxford. From the start we were not at the races at all… gifting possession, missing tackles, running into each other, constantly overhitting passes, showing no composure on the ball and completely lacking the stomach to battle through it. With the exception of Grace that is, who once again scrapped for every ball and never at any point gave in. If only I had a few more like that!! I can’t understand how we have gone from playing so well 2 weeks ago against Blisworth to such a poor showing today. It’s inexplicable. Although we were so poor, the game was actually fairly even until the ref gave a penalty for a push in the box just before half time. We came in 1 down and I was urging the girls on but I was fearing the worst from the body language and responses I was getting. Early in the 2nd half a big punt forward was missed by everyone (that happened all game too) which allowed the Oxford striker to run through and score. They then added a tremendous third goal when their midfielder struck a long range shot into the top corner. A fourth came when I felt the ball was kicked out of Niamh’s hands but the ref didn’t. We got a late consolation through Grace, which was richly deserved as she played with lots of spirit. The games in this league are going to be keenly contested so I hope this is a just wake up call for the girls to be mentally prepared for tough games every week. GOM: Grace
