The L1s faced a wet and early drive down to Bicester this Saturday for a 10 a.m. pushback. Luckily, the sun came out as we arrived for what was going to be a very exciting game.

From the first blow of the whistle, Bicester brought a strong level of intensity to the game, setting their press very high and finding their way into our D early on. It took the Wanderers a moment to settle and react to this, but we played our clean passing game and showed Bicester we could match their level.
For the most part, the game was balanced, with the ball moving end to end. However, in a quick break, Bicester worked their way down the pitch. Their first shots were defended and stopped, but after some scrambling around the left post, a strong slap slotted the ball into the goal, giving them the advantage.
Wootton saw this as the moment to turn the burners on, and they upped their pressure, advancing further up the pitch with some strong shots from the attackers, dominating the game for 15 minutes or so. After a quick defensive turnaround, Steph smashed the ball up towards young Annie, who swiftly moved it onto Easty, who then found Sophie in the D. Sophie took a lovely reverse shot, and it went straight into the goal.
Both teams kept the pressure incredibly high, with Bicester setting up some drag flicks for Jade in goal to deal with ease.

At halftime, we discussed our strengths and weaknesses and communicated our intention to use our midfielders more in the second half to work around Bicester’s high press.

The second half saw much of the same play as in the first 35 minutes, and it was clear that Bicester were hungry for the win. The ladies at the back—Lizzie, Anna, Steph, and Barnwell—worked tirelessly to keep the ball out of the D and battled the Bicester attackers as best they could, with keeper Jade being called into action on multiple occasions, launching herself left and right. Bicester edged ever closer to our goal, even de-helmeting poor Jade, but the Wanderers held strong. In the attacking end, we gained many chances at goal, whether they were strikes or short corners, but the opposition’s keeper had a keen eye and wasn’t letting anything past her.
With 5 minutes left on the clock, Bicester managed to break the deadlock, finally finding their way to the net and making it a 2-1 win to Bicester.

Post-game, there were smiles on everyone’s faces. We had played incredibly well as a team and felt we had put our all into the game.

MOM this week went to Jade in goal, who even put her noggin on the line to keep Bicester’s attackers at bay.