South Reading Vixens

The Vixens made the shot trip across town to face a newly formed Caversham team , with the hosts resplendent in their brand new kit and playing their first ever game. With numbers tight, the squad saw a special guest appearance from the Yellow team’s Ashleigh, whilst Deanna took over in goal to allow Dom a rare run-out on pitch. It was also to be Yasmin’s Grandma’s last game as a supporter on the sidelines before returning to home to Brazil – hopefully she will be able to continue following our adventures on the Internet.

The Vixens had much of the early play, with the irrepressible Yasmin firing a couple of shots wide in the opening minutes. Shortly afterwards she forced a good save from the keeper after receiving Hannah’s excellent pass. The hosts then made the first of many changes to their keeper, but it didn’t seem to matter who they put between the sticks – they were all good. Yasmin brought an early diving save out of goalie no. 2, who also dealt comfortably with Azara’s well struck shot. Caversham now started to get more into the game, with their speedy no. 9 looking particularly impressive. Defenders Ashleigh and Zoe were called into action more frequently, with Zoe making a fantastic sliding tackle in her own penalty area after Caversham had broken through. Keeper Deanna was still having a relatively quiet game, but when she did get the ball her strong kicking set up a number of attacks. The constantly improving Shannon S continued to grow in confidence, working hard on the left to frustrate the hosts and win several challenges. But despite this it just wasn’t quite happening for the Vixens. All the girls were working hard individually, but couldn’t keep their passing game going. Hannah, just back from illness, was getting in some great positions on the right but wasn’t seeing enough of the ball as the girls tried to do too much on their own – definitely something to work on at training this week.

The Vixens started the second half in determined fashion. Ashleigh went on a storming run before her well-struck shot rattled the post, then a few minutes later Yasmin hit the bar from a tight angle. Midway through the half the action switched to the other end as Caversham broke through, but the shot went wide. With the clock running down the final chance fell to Azara, but her well hit strike flashed just the wrong side of the post and it finished 0-0.

So, a good workout for the Vixens and an excellent performance from Caversham in their first ever match. They are a great bunch, and we hope to fix up a return game in the next couple of months.

Squad: Deanna, Ashleigh, Zoe, Hannah, Yasmin, Dominique, Shannon S, Azara

The Vixens player of the match was Azara, who battled for everything up front.