South Reading Vixens

The girls made their shortest trip of the season to near neighbours Winnersh, for their first meeting since the Falcons pipped them to the trophy in the Woodley Wanderers tournament final. After a fairly even opening ten minutes it was the hosts who took the lead as their speedy strikers got behind the Vixens defence to give Malicia no chance. The Vixens kept their heads up and battled back, with Felisha working particularly hard in central midfield. Midway through the half Jaye put in a great cross after some fancy footwork from Kelsey, but no one could get on the end of it. Charmaine made an excellent run but played the ball just too far in front of her, allowing the alert Winnersh keeper to smother it. Jaye then tested the goalie with a couple of good shots, before she levelled the score on the stroke of half time following a great through ball from Charmaine.

The Vixens swapped keepers at the break, with Ellie taking over between the sticks. She wasted no time in making her presence felt, commanding her area with great authority. Ashleigh and Karis had to work hard as the Falcons continued to torment the Vixens defence with their pace, but when they did get through Ellie was in no mood to concede as several times she got down quickly to make confident saves. Jessica and Malicia then spent time at the back, and both performed admirably in relatively unfamiliar positions.

At the other end Malicia went close early in the half, then Kelsey showboated her way through the Winnersh defence only to see her shot fly the wrong side of the post. Kelsey then had a strong shot blocked at point blank range by the superb Falcons keeper – surely the best we have faced in a long while. With the clock running down, Charmaine broke through and fired in a good strike from a tight angle, only to see it hit the post. The ball fell to Jaye who had followed in unmarked, but her shot hit the opposite post and rebounded to safety. There was still time for Chloe to go close in the dying seconds, but in the end it finished all square. It had been a thoroughly enjoyable (if nailbiting) game, as we always seem to get between these teams.

Squad: Malicia, Ashleigh, Ellie, Karis, Chloe, Jessica, Felisha, Jaye, Kelsey, Charmaine

The Vixens player of the match was Malicia, for some excellent goalkeeping in the first half and a committed performance on pitch in the second.