Issue 155

Hockey hit for six

08th May 2007

Cardiff 6 - Swansea 0

At 1:30 surrounded by excitable, half naked, green dyed supporters, the Swansea women won the toss and took the push back.

They started off confidently and quickly entered into a brilliantly forceful match, constantly making good use of pitch space and attacking speed. This despite the Cardiff team hosting two Welsh players, Swansea made every effort and continuously worked together as a team never letting the opposition phase them.

Cardiff captain, Tamara Fateh quickly scored the first goal inside the first two minutes of the match from just inside the D, however, the Swansea girls kept their spirit high and the encouragement they showed to each other was commendable in itself.

Swansea remained unbroken and made continued efforts to attack the Cardiff defenders, Swansea forward Moss making several strong runs down the left wing. Despite Cardiff having the stronger side, both teams had equal possession of the ball and play was not restricted to either half.

In the tenth minute Cardiff managed to break the Swansea defenders and Sophie Blair won the second goal for Cardiff, and unfortunately almost straight after another goal was conceded by Swansea.

Regardless of being 3-0 down at this point, the team remained upbeat and dedicated to the match.

This unanimous team courage was shown when Cardiff were awarded several penalty corners towards the end of the first half. Cardiff hit hard and went in strong, but the Swansea girls easily managed to accept the ball every time and clear it wide.

With just a few minutes left remaining, the pressure was still on, and the Cardiff forwards managed to break through Swansea's ranks testing the Swansea's keeper, Mel Kohlke, who throughout the match played brilliantly and made some excellent saves.

However, no goals were conceded and the girls defended bravely up until the whistle. The second half saw both teams coming out strong and equally determined.

Swansea captain Tina Davies kept encouraging her team, showed good ball skill and was a relentless, driving force upon the Cardiff forwards. Cardiff made repeated, strong attacks early on continually pressing on the Swansea defense. However, the Cardiff forwards hadn't reckoned on Laura Hancock who fearlessly threw herself into any tackle, fought valiantly and did an amazing job at defending throughout the match.

Cardiff maybe in retaliation to such a sight made a break two minutes later resulting in a goal and another closely followed from a short corner.

The last twenty minutes was a frenzied battle of wills, Swansea battling to break into the Cardiff half.

A scramble in the D resulted in another Cardiff goal, but from then until the end of the game the girls put in every ounce of effort to keep the Cardiff forwards in their own half and they succeeded in their task.

Even though it was a Cardiff victory, for the players and the supporters the captain's words summed up all their thoughts. "All the team played awesome.

Several second team players stepped up to help us out through injury and they did amazing, they really made themselves proud. The score didn't reflect the team's effort!"

Waterfront Online