Division 1 League - Leverington ladies v Cardea ladies

If anybody thought last week’s game on Ketton hill was cold, then they were in for a bad day as the Cardea ladies travelled out to the freezing Fens, for what was expected to be a tough away game against Leverington.

Even before the game started, Cardea suffered a blow with defender Maisie feeling unwell and having to withdraw from the starting line-up.

With the home team launching a drone, which would buzz overhead to video the game, even the ref seemed keen to get back home to the warm and got the game going a few minutes early.

It wasn’t long before the drone would capture the first action of the game which would go to Cardea.
The ball bounced amongst opposing players in the middle of the park before our own Helen sent it out to the left where Olivia was waiting on the wing.

With bags of space the Cardea winger was also eager to get warm and ran at the Leverington defence, beating two defenders before the ball was finally put out for the first corner of the game.

The next 10 minutes would see Cardea settling first and spreading the ball around the park well but with Leverington looking to steal it back and hit Cardea on the quick counter given any opportunity.

On 13 minutes the next real chance of the game would again fall to the Cardea attack. The ball was spread across the Cardea defence before Mia sent a long ball up the park which was collected by Ruddy in the centre circle.

A nice ball between two Leverington defenders set Pollard on her way towards goal, a nice square ball across the goal mouth found Georgie just outside the 3-yard box who was unable to deal with a nasty bobble which caused her to put the ball just past the post.
It was only a couple of minutes later that Cardea would break the deadlock. A good interchange between Brooke down the right to Georgie created space for the ball to be sent into the Leverington box where Captain Ruddy was waiting to send it into the net 1-0.
The celebratory team hug that followed seemed to go on for ages, perhaps the team were enjoying the warmth as the temperature continued to drop.

Leverington attacked from the restart, sending the ball through into the Cardea box clearly keen to draw level so they too could have an excuse to share some body heat.

The Cardea defence were quick to close down the orange attack with defender Laura this time sending the long clearance up field to create our own counter, unfortunately it saw Ruddy shoot just wide of the post on 22 minutes.

Two minutes later saw Leverington almost carbon copy the Cardea chance, a long ball from the defence saw the Leverington striker break clear towards Poppy`s goal. The Cardea keeper was quick off her line to close the angle and force the opposing striker to take an early shot across goal and luckily just past the outside of the far Cardea post.

The weather was getting colder, but the game itself was really warming up with both teams creating attacking chances at either end, but with Cardea having most of the possession.

On 26 minutes the Cardea supporters would have to take their hands out from their warm pockets again to celebrate a second goal which was a real team effort and saw Cardea passing at their best.

Mia again collected the ball from the Leverington attack and seemed to have sent the ball safely into touch. Oliva however had other ideas and managed to just keep the ball in play before sending a long ball up field finding Ruddy, who herself sent a nice ball through to the feet of Pollard.

The Cardea striker held the ball up well teasing the Leverington defence before again crossing to Georgie in the centre of the box who made no mistake this time to finish what was a great move to make it 2-0 and another warm Cardea huddle.

A long break followed as the Leverington keeper required treatment and most of the Cardea team found their own ways to keep warm whether it be by getting the gloved supporters to rub their freezing hands, steal a few minutes in a sub coat or like Poppy and Fiona to do a few shuttle runs in the area.

Even the drone seemed to be struggling in the cold and landed for a quick warm up in the car park.

The restart saw Cardea again on the attack pushing forward winning another corner and then soaking up the pressure of the quick Leverington counter attacks.

On 40 minutes the game would see its 3rd and final goal of the afternoon again for Cardea after another lovely team move. Ever busy Helen won the ball in the crowded midfield and with nowhere to go sent it back to the Cardea defence.

A good interchange between Laura and Mia saw another long clearance up the park to where the ever-busy Olivia was again waiting on the wing. Seeing Pollard running through the middle the winger slipped the perfect ball between two defenders allowing Pollard to run clear and chip the goalie into the net to take us into the half time break 3-0.

Probably the busiest place at half time was the bar with supporters heading for a coffee whilst the teams huddled like penguins on the far side of the pitch trying to keep warm.

The second half of the game saw no more goals for either side, but it wasn’t for the lack of good football from both teams.
Poppy in the Cardea goal made some good saves coming out to take the ball from the feet of the Leverington strikers on at least 2 occasions, brave keeping considering her the head injury she sustained last week.

The Cardea defence continued to cope well with the Leverington attacks and the Cardea strikers put another couple of chances wide, perhaps they were starting to lose the feeling in their feet with the cold. The entire Cardea midfield battled all game and spread the ball well around the pitch, using both wings to utmost effect.

Leverington continued to play good football and never stopped taking the game to Cardea right up to the final whistle, making this a good competitive game.

The ref even got to show some of his own footballing skills when a Leverington player required treatment and he treated us to 15 dodgy looking keepie ups in the middle of the park.

The game was becoming victim to the fading light and unfortunately Leverington, like most people clearly couldn’t afford to switch on the floodlights with the high cost of electricity nowadays. It was a good job the game didn’t require extra time, or we would have been playing with our phone torches on under the lights of the ever-present drone overhead.

All in all, another good team performance from Cardea with a well-deserved player of the match award going to Olivia who caused Leverington headaches all afternoon on the wing.

Three well taken goals, two coming from some great teamwork, a lot of cold hands and pink legs, but most importantly another 3 points and still unbeaten in 5.

The ref summed up the game, calling it a “Good battle”.

Thanks to Leverington for a great game and their hospitality and good luck to them for the rest of the season, just one bit of advice to make things better, turn the lights on!!!