LUSL London vs ICSM 1s (A) - 16/01/2024
Tuesday 16th January. Rainy, overcast, windy. After messaging the entirety of the BLWP community, I finally managed to round up a solid 11 players who would be taking on ICSM 1s at Ethos. The only thing keeping me going was the thought of peanuts at Five Guys afterwards because this was going to be a horrible match.
After some pre-match trash-talk in Swedish with their captain (jk), and a very very very short warm up, we lined up in the shallow end to start the match. I told the team that our aim was 2 goals in total (spoiler: expectations exceeded). We start off with absolute power - beautiful plays against what is probably the toughest team in the league. I’m not even sure what happened but it was goal after goal after goal for LUSL London. Cole and Balint started us off nicely as they both decided it was time to show off their skills. The ICSM 1 supporters on poolside seemed to quiet down when the game started off as 2 - 0 to us. A wonderful goal from Abi, who just seems to be able to out-swim anyone she meets and another powerful shot from Balint took us up to 4 - 3 to end the first quarter ahead.
ICSM 1s were definitely pooing their speedos a little bit here. They probably weren’t expecting us to arrive with such energy. Balint confidently told us “we can win this”, I don’t normally believe in superstition or whatever but I think that jinxed us. We didn’t score this quarter but everyone was still putting in maximum effort. ICSM 1s were trying as hard as they possibly could but were not able to get past our solid defence when we finally set up the arc. Smaragda is an excellent little driver - she’s basically dancing in the water the way she’s able to move past her defender. Annie B and Ella, both making their LUSL London debuts, stuck tight to their players and I mean that literally. Not a single shot from either one of the people they were marking - so I’m honestly not really sure how ICSM scored 5 in this quarter but that mystery can remain unsolved. 4 - 8 to ICSM 1.
A week on from the match and I have now been informed that Annie-Mae disappeared to the cosy Ethos changing rooms mid way during the game. Having regained the ability to see again after some minor eye surgery (replacing a contact lens), she got straight back into the pool and caused a ruckus for her player by being too speedy. Something has to be said about our teamwork as well, the whole team really does work well together - our substitutions are smooth, we create space, we move the ball around, it’s always really enjoyable to play with everyone regardless of the result. That teamwork was evident in this quarter, goals from Abi and Balint with everyone getting involved too. Brandon held position in pit A like a machine and Rory was doing a bit of every position - absolute malleability. Izzy (I) did in fact score but their ref did not allow it - it will always be a goal in my heart. 6 - 15
Anyway, final quarter, final push. We had so many man-ups I lost count, their coach/ref really enjoys sending his own players out (I’m not complaining). Harry was getting increasingly frustrated in goal at some cheeky balls flying past him but I have nothing but praise for him. THE BEST GOALIE THE LONDON HAS EVER SEEN. To think I was considering playing him outfield (Harry is stuck in goal forever!!!). Balint scores again whilst simultaneously playing pit D and pit A, impressive to say the least. The game ends on a man-up for us and Cole scores but, again, the ref did not allow it (pretty sure VAR would have shown that it was good but that doesn’t matter!). Final score 7 - 18
A cheeky trip to Five Guys to end another night at Ethos.
Player of the match - Everyone - I can’t pick sorry! You are all incredible!
Goals:
Balint (4)
Abi (2)
Cole (1)
