Broxbourne Ladies 1XI 1 : 5 Canterbury Ladies 2XI

Broxbourne travelled to Canterbury on Saturday aware they were in for a tough game however unprepared for the drilled outfit they found in their opposition.

Broxbourne were missing some key players with Sarah Goodwin still out through injury, Tor Stacey unavailable and Ciara Henry struck down by flu, they were left with the bare eleven on Friday night. Thankfully youngster Cerys Edwards stepped into the void in her debut for the first XI and performed admirably under such pressure

Canterbury evidently still had memories of the previous meeting between these two teams and were clearly out for revenge.
They pushed forward from the start and before long won themselves an early penalty corner which their dominant centre forward dispatched into the bottom corner with ease.

Buoyed by their early goal, Canterbury continued their dominance; packing the middle of the pitch to subdue The Badger’s star player Emily Wilkins. Despite this the defence worked hard and managed to keep Canterbury at bay until just before half time when Iszatt was caught napping at the back post, allowing her player an easy tap in to take the score to 2-0.

Broxbourne had worked hard defensively during the first half and this led to problems in the second as fatigue set in. Another well drilled short corner from Canterbury took the score to 3-0 and this quickly became 4 and 5-0 as their skilful forwards got the better of the defence.

At 5-0 down The Badgers could have given up however their character shone through, continuing to attack even in the last moments of the game. Great interplay between Wilkins and Charlotte Skipp down the right wing left Skipp able to attack down the baseline. Making it look easy, she wobbled past 3 Canterbury defenders before crossing the ball perfectly to Iszatt on the back post who calmly slotted the ball home, giving the badgers their consolation prize.

It was a common feeling that perhaps the result did not reflect the closeness of the game however it is undeniable that Canterbury were the better team on the day and the game has given coach McDonnell much to think about going forward. Next week The Badgers face bottom of the league Sudbury at home, here’s hoping they can return to their winning ways. 3pm push back at Badger Field.