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Jul. 26th, 2009 08:31 pmBack with the girls again.
First pre-season friendly, away to Lewes - but despite early suggestions that Lewes Ladies might have acquired the use of the Dripping Pan for this game, we ended up playing three miles out of town in the village of Ringmer. So for me it was an 8.45 departure from home, to travel by train via Hove and Brighton (legging it between the platforms to make a tight connection at the latter) to Lewes, where I called at a charming Pizza Express restaurant for lunch - a very tasty Veneziana, and I needed no persuading to accept the waitress's suggestion of a side order of olives - before catching the bus out to Ringmer.
Most of the gang are still there, though as well as Sally leaving for Brighton one or two others haven't come back for the new campaign, but our ranks have been boosted by four girls coming up from the Academy. One of them, Lauren, I knew as she's played against us for Moneyfields. We all had a lively conversation, mostly about the long away trips awaiting us this season. Sam moaned about us having to come all this way for a friendly; Trevor pointed out that Lewes were our nearest other Step 3 club. "Couldn't we play anyone local?" Sam still asked.
"Do you want to spend the friendlies sticking ten past Gosport Ladies and New Forest?" I replied, drawing an approving "You tell her" from Trev. Sam didn't think that a bad idea; she said it'd boost her goal tally (forgetting that goals in friendlies don't count in the stats).
The girls went off to get changed, leaving me with Trev and the parents and WAGs, plus Laura and Jenna D, both injured. I joined Rob, Christine and Sarah around a table. Rob said to me "Tell Christine what you like in your sandwiches." All the others laughed and Christine explained that Trev had persuaded her to do the catering for the girls' friendly with Brighton on Wednesday week. I said we'd have a chance to say hello to Sally that night, but someone said they'd heard from a reliable source that Sally had declared herself unavailable for the game. I'd always liked Sally and admired her as a player, so it was a bit of a shock to hear some of our party observing that she'd never 'fancied it' for big matches - "did you never notice that it was often big games she never turned out for?" I have to confess I hadn't.
We knew Lewes were a decent team. They came fourth last season in a parallel league to the one we've just gone up to, and they've added some proven new players over the summer. The Hawk girls' performance was a bit on the patchy side, but Lewes were perhaps a little lucky to win 2-0 with a couple of admittedly good volleys (the first catching Sadie off her line). Bright spots were a spirited, never-say-die performance from Jodie, operating by turns in defence and midfield, and promising rough diamond displays from the four newbies, especially Lauren and Katie.
Back to the clubhouse for a drink, and a chat with Jo - now assistant manager and retired from playing - until the bus came.
First pre-season friendly, away to Lewes - but despite early suggestions that Lewes Ladies might have acquired the use of the Dripping Pan for this game, we ended up playing three miles out of town in the village of Ringmer. So for me it was an 8.45 departure from home, to travel by train via Hove and Brighton (legging it between the platforms to make a tight connection at the latter) to Lewes, where I called at a charming Pizza Express restaurant for lunch - a very tasty Veneziana, and I needed no persuading to accept the waitress's suggestion of a side order of olives - before catching the bus out to Ringmer.
Most of the gang are still there, though as well as Sally leaving for Brighton one or two others haven't come back for the new campaign, but our ranks have been boosted by four girls coming up from the Academy. One of them, Lauren, I knew as she's played against us for Moneyfields. We all had a lively conversation, mostly about the long away trips awaiting us this season. Sam moaned about us having to come all this way for a friendly; Trevor pointed out that Lewes were our nearest other Step 3 club. "Couldn't we play anyone local?" Sam still asked.
"Do you want to spend the friendlies sticking ten past Gosport Ladies and New Forest?" I replied, drawing an approving "You tell her" from Trev. Sam didn't think that a bad idea; she said it'd boost her goal tally (forgetting that goals in friendlies don't count in the stats).
The girls went off to get changed, leaving me with Trev and the parents and WAGs, plus Laura and Jenna D, both injured. I joined Rob, Christine and Sarah around a table. Rob said to me "Tell Christine what you like in your sandwiches." All the others laughed and Christine explained that Trev had persuaded her to do the catering for the girls' friendly with Brighton on Wednesday week. I said we'd have a chance to say hello to Sally that night, but someone said they'd heard from a reliable source that Sally had declared herself unavailable for the game. I'd always liked Sally and admired her as a player, so it was a bit of a shock to hear some of our party observing that she'd never 'fancied it' for big matches - "did you never notice that it was often big games she never turned out for?" I have to confess I hadn't.
We knew Lewes were a decent team. They came fourth last season in a parallel league to the one we've just gone up to, and they've added some proven new players over the summer. The Hawk girls' performance was a bit on the patchy side, but Lewes were perhaps a little lucky to win 2-0 with a couple of admittedly good volleys (the first catching Sadie off her line). Bright spots were a spirited, never-say-die performance from Jodie, operating by turns in defence and midfield, and promising rough diamond displays from the four newbies, especially Lauren and Katie.
Back to the clubhouse for a drink, and a chat with Jo - now assistant manager and retired from playing - until the bus came.
