Women vs Imperial (A) - 06/11/2024

BLWP 09 - 10 Imperial

I remember the day well, almost as if it was 24 hours ago. It was a drizzly Wednesday afternoon, our first trip to Ethos of the year. We were excited, nervous and looking to get some vengeance from our previous game.

The first quarter began. Quick to swim laps around her player Incisor was putting her player through their paces. Meanwhile Helsinki was getting naughty in pit, unfortunately the ref didn’t agree she was just being a silly sausage and awarded IC a pen. But fear not we have tadpole Tash in goal so they didn’t stand a chance. Swiftly after the ball turned over Virgin Active and Ceviche worked in synchronicity (must be left over from VA’s days of synchronised swimming) and fed the ball up the pool. Where Baraclapfish struck her claim in pit A and won us a man up. With a quick one two from Leech to BCF, BCF put our first goal of the game into the net. RENT FREE. IC quickly responded matching our goal. But don’t worry we’ve just got going. With a quick attack, Leech found some space and managed to find the ball of the net (shock horror it wasn’t the crossbar). Falala graced the pool with some fabulous play, pressing her player to turn the ball over to us. Tadpole Mary swum up and down the wing, sticking to her player like glue. BCF had to finish the quarter with yet another lovely goal. Quarter 1, 3-3 even Stevens.

We’re ready to go. Quarter 2 began with the speedy Scot winning us the ball. Unfortunately Leech would eat her words and give away a pen. Naughty Leechy. Ick-thys played strong in driver, moving her player around, not allowing a single shot from her player. Helsinki and BCF commanded pit with their double marking giving IC a hard time getting anywhere near the goal. On a quick counter, Helsinki found space and put one away into the net. Ceviche and Incisor held strong on the wing, providing us structure to set us our arc and respond quickly to IC. Two seconds left of the quarter, BCF 8m out, the ball fed to her, bang. Whistle? Goal! Vindication. 6-5 to IC.

After a quick team talk quarter 3 began. As quick as the whistle blew, BCF challenged IC scoring yet another goal to equalise us. Tadpole Hyma stuck to her player on the wing, giving her a challenge anytime the ball came their way. Game stopped? Yellow card? Silly IC coach, shush. Who’s that outfield? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Milfy Miracle Flow! We’ve unleashed her into the pool. Fear struck IC at the sight of Miracle Flow out of goal. So much so that BCF took advantage of this opportunity to score yet another goal. Helsinki was playing so well in pit D, the ref thought the only way to give IC a chance was to wrap her. Falala created good movement, giving us space to set up our attack. Blink and you’ll miss it BCF scores again. VA stood her ground in pit D, with anyone in reach crashing in to halt IC in their tracks. Leech made a mental note to practice shooting in training, as BCF launched a couple over the goal, ‘the ball was slippy’. I hate to break it to everyone, we are in a pool, it’s quite a wet environment. To redeem herself BCF scored. We forgive her. 9-8 to IC.

Final quarter, let’s go. The flying Scotsman raced to the middle, winning the swim off. Too excited by the prospect of her LUSL team reveal later, BCF decided to speed up the match by getting awarded a major, I heard its so she can spend 20secs thinking of games to play at her curry? The girls moved the play forward at a rapid rate. Back and forth we kept up with IC. Tadpole Tash was defending every corner of her goal, not letting IC have an easy time. Miracle Flow raced her player up and down the wing. Falala showed her strength, wrestling her player until the ball turned over. Down to the final 2 mins, BCF decided to show IC we weren’t giving up and put away yet another goal. With the time ticking down, every girl kept to their player, relentlessly crashed pit preventing anymore goals. Tadpole Tash was ready for whatever IC threw at her.

The final whistle blew 10-9 to IC.

The girls showed fantastic power, perseverance and strength this game. This is such a fantastic result, I feel so proud of the team. We will be back, and we will keep getting even better.

Player of the match:

BCF, and her ‘rocket arm’ for scoring a whopping 7 goals.

Dick of the day:

The pool for making the ball wet and slippy.

Goals:

BCF - 7

Leech - 1

Helsinki - 1