Sat 6th May: Laurel Park Starz v Tilehurst Panthers

Having struggled to field a full team with subs at Kensington Road throughout the season, Saturday made a welcome change with all our new players available to boost the team.
Another welcome change was how fast out of the blocks the girls were. Of the seven tournaments at Kensington Road this season we had only won the first match on one occasion, but today the girls were on fire right from the off.
The Starz completely dominated the first quarter with Cherry in goal hardly touching the ball. Heidi and Paige were in rampant form and Tilehurst struggled to deal with their pace. Heidi and Paige both went close on several occasions before Paige finally broke the deadlock when she raced on to Abigail’s clearance to smash the ball home to give the Starz a 1-0 lead after the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Cherry out on pitch to join the midfield and along with Kya, Tia and Sophie continued to dominate winning possession. An attack from Tilehurst was broken up by Abby who cleared the ball to Heidi who ran from inside her own half to fire home number two. Just three minutes later Heidi scored again to put the Starz 3-0 up.
The third goal seem to spark Tilehurst into life and they began to come into the match in the latter stages of the second quarter, with Tamsin, Abigail and Abby all needing to make good interceptions. A good shot from Tilehurst eventually saw them pull the score back to 3-1 and only a great save from Kerry when faced with a 1-on-1 preserved the Starz two goal cushion as we reached half time.

The third quarter again began well for the Starz when Amelia was rewarded for her persistence in pressuring the Tilehurst defence and managed to squeeze home a goal to put the Starz 4-1 up. Tilehurst continued to grow in confidence though and shortly pulled back another goal to make it 4-2, despite Abigail’s brave attempt to save a shot blasted from close range.
The game was now end to end and the Starz almost scored again when Cherry saw her well struck shot rebound back off the cross bar, as the third quarter ended with the Starz 4-2 up.

The final quarter saw the Starz once again get off to a flyer. Paige took centre stage to score twice in 4 minutes to all but end Tilehurst’s spirited fight-back. The first came after another strong run and lay off from Heidi and then Paige completed her hat-trick after good work on the right from Kerry.
Tilehurst to their credit did not give up and pulled back another and only a good save low down at her near post from Cherry ensured the final score remained 6-3 to the Starz.
A very strong all round performance from the Starz with Tamsin, Abigail and Abby solid in defence, while Kerry and Cherry excelled both in goal and out on pitch. Sophie, Kya and Tia battled away in midfield while Heidi and Paige’s pace proved a constant problem for the Tilehurst defence. Well done to all the girls on a fine team performance and to Paige who won ‘Girlie of the Game’ for her stunning hat-trick.