Honours even in 6 goal thriller.

Cardea and Hungate shared the points in a very even match at Bushfield this afternoon with the scoreline finishing 3-3.

Cardea got off to a good start with Jess, Ruddy and Nic all going close in the opening exchanges.

Nat then got her first megnuts ever as she played the ball down the line. Sending the supporters into celebration.

Ruddy almost scored past the young Hungate keeper as she shot just wide after the opposition made a mess of clearing their lines.

Against the run of play, Hungate went 1 up after Cardea gave away a penalty for handball in the area. The penalty was well taken with the Hungate striker who buried the ball into Carlie Rudd’s bottom right corner.

It was almost 0-2 straight after as Hungate went on another attack. Fortunately for Cardea, an excellent goal line clearance from Laura Church kept the score as it was.

Hungate were now in the ascendancy and were again almost two up as they forced Carlie Rudd into a great reflex stop. The striker tapped in the rebound but was flagged for offside.

Cardea finally got the goal that their early play had merited and made the game 1-1. Jess played through Danni who took on her marker before finishing superbly.

Provider almost turned scorer as Jess was given too much time on the edge of the area. The Cardea striker turning and unleashing a venomous strike which hit the bar and bounced away to safety, much to the delight of the away team.

Cardea did take the lead when Laura Rudd hit a lovely half volley which beat everyone and went in at the far post after a Nic throw.

Cardea finished the half strong and applied good pressure to go in at the break at 2-1 up.

The message from the management was to keep going and keep trying to play the football that had seen them dominate the majority of the half.

Unfortunately it was only a matter of minutes into the second half before a now riled up Hungate made it 2-2. The striker taking advantage of a mix up to roll the ball into an open goal.

Shortly after, a shot from nowhere somehow evaded everyone and bounced past Carlie Rudd and Cardea were 2-3 down wondering what had happened.

With still 30 minutes left to play, the remainder of the half consisted of Cardea piling on the pressure in the search for an equaliser. Nic seeing the best chance saved as she attempted to guide the ball into the far corner.

Again and again, Hungate held on with Cardea creating a lot of chances. Both Danni and Ruddy running in behind on a number of occasions but not quite being able to take advantage.

Eventually the now desperate Hungate backline was broken in the 92nd minute and it was Captain fantastic Laura Rudd with the goal after being played through 1v1 by Nic. The club top scorer taking her time to finish past the keeper well.

Ft 3-3

After the game, Cardea assistant manager Matt Robinson said “a draw was probably a fair result however the girls are gutted that we didn’t make the most of our possession and chances to score more goals. We looked to move the ball freely using the new shape and kept possession fantastically on the most part.”

Wotm was difficult to pick and was awarded to both Danni and Nic as we were unable to separate the two of them.

Next week we are at home once again, this time playing host to Ketton who beat us earlier on the season 6-0. We will be looking to get some revenge if possible!