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To London for Atlético v Hutton Ladies. Our American sponsor Curt and his wife were there and stopped for a quick chat with me in the clubhouse. Saw some of the girls out at the side of the pitch before the game, Rea gave me an effusive welcome again. Dave informed me that Jo was out of the side as she’d done her ankle during the week.
I sat in the row behind Dave. Across the aisle from us were some Hutton supporters, one of whom was a great help to Dave’s stat-collecting as he identified Hutton’s players. The first half was a grind in which neither team looked like scoring. The one incident was our goalkeeper Alex getting a whack in the face - thankfully after being seen to she was fine to play on.
Atlético brought on Lily Aungier late in the first half and Keira Stewart at half-time, and came out with a totally changed dynamic. Brooke Haylock was blatantly brought down in the box a few minutes after the break, but instead of a penalty she got booked for diving. All of us thought that absolutely shocking.
Justice was served a couple of minutes later when Rea won the ball in the Hutton half and fed Brooke who calmly slotted past the Hutton keeper.
Alex made a lovely save to protect our lead, then Brooke fired in two more to complete her hat-trick. One of our fans pointed out Jo to me; she was sitting in the next section. I went up to the barrier and said hello. She introduced me to her boyfriend and thanked me warmly for sponsoring her.
In the closing minutes, Amber Provan, a fine workhorse of a centre-back, got a well deserved moment of glory when she headed in our fourth from a corner.
A bit more of a chat with Jo as we waited by the tunnel to greet the players off the pitch, then the long journey home.
Arrived at Waterloo to find there wasn’t a Portsmouth train for nearly a quarter of an hour. I thought I’d save a bit of time by boarding a train that called at Southampton, where I’d change at Fareham, but my turnaround was only five minutes and the train slowed up on its way into Southampton and arrived just too late for my connecting train. So I was left sitting at Southampton for half an hour and got home no earlier than if I’d waited for the Portsmouth train.
Never mind, four goals, three points and two dear friends.
I sat in the row behind Dave. Across the aisle from us were some Hutton supporters, one of whom was a great help to Dave’s stat-collecting as he identified Hutton’s players. The first half was a grind in which neither team looked like scoring. The one incident was our goalkeeper Alex getting a whack in the face - thankfully after being seen to she was fine to play on.
Atlético brought on Lily Aungier late in the first half and Keira Stewart at half-time, and came out with a totally changed dynamic. Brooke Haylock was blatantly brought down in the box a few minutes after the break, but instead of a penalty she got booked for diving. All of us thought that absolutely shocking.
Justice was served a couple of minutes later when Rea won the ball in the Hutton half and fed Brooke who calmly slotted past the Hutton keeper.
Alex made a lovely save to protect our lead, then Brooke fired in two more to complete her hat-trick. One of our fans pointed out Jo to me; she was sitting in the next section. I went up to the barrier and said hello. She introduced me to her boyfriend and thanked me warmly for sponsoring her.
In the closing minutes, Amber Provan, a fine workhorse of a centre-back, got a well deserved moment of glory when she headed in our fourth from a corner.
A bit more of a chat with Jo as we waited by the tunnel to greet the players off the pitch, then the long journey home.
Arrived at Waterloo to find there wasn’t a Portsmouth train for nearly a quarter of an hour. I thought I’d save a bit of time by boarding a train that called at Southampton, where I’d change at Fareham, but my turnaround was only five minutes and the train slowed up on its way into Southampton and arrived just too late for my connecting train. So I was left sitting at Southampton for half an hour and got home no earlier than if I’d waited for the Portsmouth train.
Never mind, four goals, three points and two dear friends.
