16/1/16: After a long Christmas break Mendip travelled to deepest Dorset to face Swanage & Wareham. Within minutes of the start Mendip were a goal up after Hayley Bullock calmly converted a penatly corner. However, S&W were not disheartened and found a gap in the Mendip defence to equalise. Mendip began to settle and had many attacking opportunities, it was a well contested match against the teams. An unfortunate event, where a spectator shouted out, led to confusion in the Mendip defence on a free hit and a S&W forward was quick to take advantage and was awarded a penalty stroke. With 3 goals in 10 minutes it was set to be an exciting game.
Mendip slowly took control of the game, with some excellent passing from defence to attack. Upfront duo of Ella Sage and Kay Downey were tricky customers for the S&W defence and several more penalty corners were awarded but unsuccessfully converted. Downey showed excellent stick skills to maintain possession in the left corner and crossed the ball finding Georgie Kelly, who calmly slotted the ball past the opposition’s goalie to bring the score to 2 all.
Against the run of play S&W won a penalty corner, and after both April Callow and Anna Swift were sent to the half way line after apparently breaking early Swanage had an easier job to find the back of the goal once more.
The second half was a different story with Swanage only getting into the Mendip half on a handful of occasions. A good team effort from Mendip ensured the ball remained at the right end and Swanage struggled to find a gap to clear their defensive 23. Mendip remained controlled and calm after being subjected to many dubious umpiring decisions. But even with the high percentage of possession Mendip didn’t take their chances and the score remained 3-2 to the home side. Georgie Kelly on her debut was voted player of the match.
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