Sunday Shining
Jan. 25th, 2026 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiffel_71To Harpenden to see Atlético. No problems on the trains. Harpenden market had a good selection of street food stalls. I went for a gourmet steak burger and a bacon butty, both excellent.
A new ground for me, number 487. Rothamsted Park was decent Step 5 fare with a compact clubhouse. A cider from the bar. Two ladies from the wonderful Her Game Too campaign were there and I talked to them for a while. With kick-off drawing nearer I saw them again in the small stand and they took photos of me and other Atlético fans holding the Her Game Too cardboard frame.
Jo was presumably still unfit and didn’t make the journey, but it wasn’t long before I saw Rea and she came over for the customary fist bump, and some of the other girls are starting to recognise me now.
Surprisingly, Rea was playing centre-back, with several other changes to the team and players in different positions from usual. I had a couple of ladies from Harpenden close to me in the stand but we each cheered on our respective teams while talking cordially to each other.
Atleti played cagily for the first half. On 10 minutes Julia, a winger filling in at right-back, brought down a Harpenden player in the box, but Alex in our goal saved the penalty.
Alex proceeded to keep Harpenden out with a string of super saves over the next half-hour. Then Atleti had a penalty shout denied when a defender appeared to handle Lily’s cross, and Harpenden took advantage, going straight down the other end and scoring after some pinball in our goalmouth.
I don’t know what was in Atlético’s half time tea and oranges, but whatever it was it worked. Within four minutes of the restart, Atleti won a corner, and my friend Rea, the emergency centre-back, drilled it home for the equaliser.
Now Atleti were steaming. More chances came and then Rea threaded the ball perfectly into Brooke’s path, and Brooke rounded her marker and coolly slid it home to put Atleti in front. Two minutes later Keira advanced upfield and placed a textbook ball through a gap in the defence, leaving Brooke with a gift of a goal. Atleti remained on top for the last quarter-hour and the back four soaked up the odd Harpenden counter-attack.
I waited at pitchside and congratulated all the girls as they came off. I complimented Rea on her performance in defence and her still scoring, she was made up. She thanked me warmly for coming as usual.
One of those days when the long journey home just flew by. And on Instagram Rea got player of the match.
A new ground for me, number 487. Rothamsted Park was decent Step 5 fare with a compact clubhouse. A cider from the bar. Two ladies from the wonderful Her Game Too campaign were there and I talked to them for a while. With kick-off drawing nearer I saw them again in the small stand and they took photos of me and other Atlético fans holding the Her Game Too cardboard frame.
Jo was presumably still unfit and didn’t make the journey, but it wasn’t long before I saw Rea and she came over for the customary fist bump, and some of the other girls are starting to recognise me now.
Surprisingly, Rea was playing centre-back, with several other changes to the team and players in different positions from usual. I had a couple of ladies from Harpenden close to me in the stand but we each cheered on our respective teams while talking cordially to each other.
Atleti played cagily for the first half. On 10 minutes Julia, a winger filling in at right-back, brought down a Harpenden player in the box, but Alex in our goal saved the penalty.
Alex proceeded to keep Harpenden out with a string of super saves over the next half-hour. Then Atleti had a penalty shout denied when a defender appeared to handle Lily’s cross, and Harpenden took advantage, going straight down the other end and scoring after some pinball in our goalmouth.
I don’t know what was in Atlético’s half time tea and oranges, but whatever it was it worked. Within four minutes of the restart, Atleti won a corner, and my friend Rea, the emergency centre-back, drilled it home for the equaliser.
Now Atleti were steaming. More chances came and then Rea threaded the ball perfectly into Brooke’s path, and Brooke rounded her marker and coolly slid it home to put Atleti in front. Two minutes later Keira advanced upfield and placed a textbook ball through a gap in the defence, leaving Brooke with a gift of a goal. Atleti remained on top for the last quarter-hour and the back four soaked up the odd Harpenden counter-attack.
I waited at pitchside and congratulated all the girls as they came off. I complimented Rea on her performance in defence and her still scoring, she was made up. She thanked me warmly for coming as usual.
One of those days when the long journey home just flew by. And on Instagram Rea got player of the match.
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Date: 2026-02-01 12:48 am (UTC)