Wootton Ladies 3 travelled to Milton Keynes on Saturday to face Milton Keynes Hockey Club in their first match of the second half of the season.

Following a quick warm-up led by vice-captain Izz, the team were ready to get underway. Wootton started the game strongly, making some excellent plays both in attack and defence. However, Milton Keynes applied early pressure and were the first to convert, opening the scoring to make it 1–0.

Wootton responded well, coming together as a team and producing some great passages of play. There were strong runs down the pitch, with the back line pushing up confidently to support the attack. Despite this, Milton Keynes remained dangerous going forward and added 1 more goals before half-time, leaving the score 2–0 at the break.

At half-time, the team regrouped and focused on the positives from the first half, particularly the strong runs and excellent man marking. The girls returned to the pitch determined to build on this in the second half.

Wootton began the second half with real intent, continuing their effective man marking which successfully took some of Milton Keynes’ more experienced players out of the game. Despite this, Milton Keynes managed to score again with a well-placed straight strike from the top of the D. Wootton continued to fight hard, creating several opportunities through strong runs down the wings, but unfortunately were unable to find the back of the net.

The match finished 6–0 to Milton Keynes, but Wootton Ladies 3 took plenty of positives from the performance as they looked ahead to their next fixture tomorrow in a double game week.

Girl of the Match was awarded jointly to Meg and Freja for their outstanding runs down the pitch, relentless effort, and commitment to tracking back throughout the game.