Hunts FA Senior Women's Cup Final - St Ives Ladies v Cardea Ladies

After all of the hype and preparation, it was finally time for the Cardea ladies to write the next chapter of their story, in this, their first ever cup final.
The Hunts FA women’s senior cup was waiting, but a formidable opponent in the form of higher league opposition side St Ives ladies, would be all there was standing in their way to spoil the party.
It was fair to say that for the first time this season, the Cardea side were going into this match firmly as the underdogs.
The scene was set nicely, a great Eynesbury rovers pitch which had 183 supporters spread along the entire length, eager for the action to begin and even the sun had decided to make an appearance and two teams in great form were ready to do battle.
With the excitement buzzing in the stadium as the line ups were announced over the loud speaker, it was finally Cardea who got the much awaited cup final underway.
If ever there was a dream start, today was the day. From the kick off the ball was sent long into the St Ives half, who sent it out of touch for a throw.
A quick throw by Olivia found Fiona in lots of space giving her time to send a long ball towards the St Ives goal.
What followed can only be described as a moment of magic from Georgie who timed a perfectly chested down pass into the path of captain Ruddy, on the edge of the St Ives area.
Seeing that the opposing keeper had drifted forward from her line, Ruddy sent a “looping” first time shot high towards goal.
With only 50 seconds on the clock, time appeared to stand still, the ball seemed to take an age before it dropped out of reach of the stretching St Ives goalie and into the net to send the sea of Cardea supporters and players into ecstatic celebration, 0-1.
Cardea appeared to have settled straight away and seemed intent on taking the game to the favourites, with some great passing around the pitch as they attacked the St Ives defence time and again, in the opening exchanges.
Some good interchanges around the edge of the St Ives box were played looking for another opening. Georgie and Pollard played a cheeky one, two which sent Pollard through into the box, only to find herself surrounded by four St Ives players to prevent her way through.
Another neat interchange between Jess, Ruddy and Pollard caused the defence problems on 7 minutes and St Ives seemed relieved to clear the ball into the stands.
The early pace was fast from both teams and as St Ives began to settle in their own passing game, both teams matched each other for possession.
The 9-minute mark saw the Cardea defence clearing their own lines for the first time. A ball forward from Fiona found Olivia in space and allowed her to run the ball out and over the halfway line before feeding through to Pollard, who again found herself surrounded by a sea of white shirts.
On 12 minutes it was St Ives who were awarded the games first free kick, which was sent just wide of the target closely watched by Poppy, who had the goal covered - had it been more accurate.
As St Ives continued to settle, the class of their passing could be seen and they spread the ball nicely across the pitch, leaving Cardea to wait and watch and try to chase the ball.
Each time Cardea managed to get some possession, they just couldn’t find the final ball through, as the well organised St Ives defence repeatedly managed to cut out the through balls.
St Ives were entering a good spell of possession, holding the ball well and passing it around the Cardea defence looking for a chink in our armour to take advantage of.
On 15 minutes a long strike needed Poppy to come and catch well. Only a couple of minutes later another St Ives effort tested the young Cardea keeper, who as so often this season proved to be up to the challenge, taking the ball safely to ground.
Each time St Ives tried to mount an attack they were met with solid tackles from Cardea, who were showing that they meant business in the middle of the park.
The 19th minute saw the first corner of the game to Cardea who couldn’t capitalise on a good cross from Georgie. The loose ball was sent forward by a long St Ives clearance, which opened up a quick counterattack resulting in a corner to St Ives only a minute later. Again it was the ever impressive Poppy in the Cardea goal who was on hand to punch the ball clear from a good cross.
With the floodlights now on, both teams were playing some great flowing football, making for a great contest between two teams looking for the second goal of the final.
On 23 minutes the ref waved on shouts for a penalty from Cardea, after Pollard appeared to have been pulled down just inside of the box and another chance for Cardea to increase their lead was gone.
St Ives were now having far more possession and were calm on the ball, forcing Cardea to chase and waste valuable energy trying to get the possession back.
The Cardea defence of Laura, Fiona and Sof were being worked hard but were coping well to clear the ball under increasing pressure.
It was now Cardea who were struggling to get the ball up field into the St Ives half and were still chasing the quality St Ives passing.
The last 10 minutes of the half saw the pace of the game again increase, as both teams capitalised on any mistake made by the other team to push forward looking for a vital opportunity before the half way point.
On 36 minutes Georgie flicked the ball forward neatly from a Jess pass, to send Pollard through behind the defence. On this occasion the quick playing surface worked against us as the ball was just too quick allowing the St Ives keeper to just beat the lively number 7 to the ball.
On 41 minutes a long searching ball forward from the St Ives midfield required Sof to hold her concentration and make a crucial tackle to clear.
The ball was end to end and the 45th minute saw Helen feed the ball to Pollard, who could only shoot just wide under pressure. With a quickly taken long goal kick the ball was, sent forward to begin a quick counterattack by St Ives that needed another great interception from Laura to stop the St Ives striker going clean through.
With the half time whistle came an opportunity to grab some much-needed respite for both teams from the first 45 minutes of high intensity football.
As both teams returned to the floodlit field, the anticipation for another 45 minutes of highly competitive football had once again risen and the atmosphere couldn’t have been more intense.
The underdogs of Cardea were now only 45 minutes from glory. Could they hold on under what would certainly be extreme pressure from the cup favourites? As St Ives got the game started, we were about to see.
Immediately it was clear that St Ives knew they had to push for a quick equaliser and they sent the ball forward to once again test the Cardea defence.
Our own Sof showed what a quality player she is, collecting the ball and driving forward, beating two players with some quality skill before sending a long ball forward looking for Pollard.
It was St Ives who appeared to settle first and began passing the ball around calmly, finding player after player with Cardea again chasing the ball.
On 48 minutes a long range shot was sent just over the Cardea cross bar.
On 51 minutes a St Ives free kick required a good header from Sof to clear from inside a packed Cardea box.
The 53rd minute of the game brought what was to be a huge turning point to the game and some mixed emotions from both players and supporters.
After winning the first corner of the second spell, St Ives delivered a great cross into the box which found the head of a St Ives player and the ball hit the back of the net to level the score.
Through the cheers and celebrations of the St Ives players, coaches and supporters, it was hard to hear the screams from Cardea for the ref to acknowledge that the linesman had their flag raised to indicate an offside.
After a moment of consultation, the goal was ruled out much to the relief of Cardea, who saw their lead restored and with it the hope of a huge cup upset for St Ives once again a possibility.
Only 4 minutes later and again a moment that would see the travelling Cardea supporters almost lose a heartbeat, another St Ives corner was awarded in what was a great spell in the game for them.
With another quality cross delivered, the ball bounced awkwardly amongst both sets of players before a shot saw it sent towards the Cardea net.
After making an instinctive save Poppy found herself having to dive onto the ball on the goal line, safely embracing it into her body for cover.
St Ives shouted that it had crossed the line. Cardea celebrated a great save and over 200 people looked to the match officials as no VAR was available for this match.
The decision was given in favour of Cardea and it had been our young keeper poppy who had literally saved the day again.
St Ives were now throwing everything they had at Cardea, who in turn had lifted their game, assisted with some fresh legs with 3 changes in quick succession and were trying to hit back with quick counter attacks.
It was a game of real passion with both sides attacking at every opportunity and Cardea showing true grit and determination to hold onto their lead with a real fight in their bellies.
Two more shots from St Ives needed Poppy to again make quality saves. The first requiring her to reach high at the dive to push past the post and the second needing her to dive low at her far post, adding to the frustration for St Ives.
Cardea continued to push back and sent the ball forward repeatedly, which saw our own Mof shoot just wide of the St Ives goal.
Courtney found some space after a Pollard pass and shot forcing a good low save by the St Ives keeper, which was shortly followed by Pollard who got a shot away despite being crowded by two defenders forcing another St Ives save late in normal time.
With both sides clearly starting to tire the fourth official indicated 4 added minutes.
The atmosphere was tense both on and off the pitch. The seconds seemed to slow and the anxiety in the crowd began to grow amongst the Cardea support, as St Ives continued to throw everything forward at the resilient Cardea squad, who were digging deep to hold out and thwart the bombardment.
In the last seconds of the game it was St Ives who would see the final opportunity to score. A quick ball forward was collected well on the wing and crossed into the box where the striker sent it towards goal, only for the hand of Poppy to send it over the bar before the final whistle.
We had done it! Cardea were now the winners of their first ever cup final. We were the new senior county cup CHAMPIONS! They had held out against the odds and proven that you should never underestimate the underdogs.
This was an exceptional show of passion and determination from every member of the Cardea squad. Every player gave everything they had on that pitch, nothing was left in their tanks and nothing more could have been asked from them.
Every player was there for each other. We supported each other, we respected each other and most of all we came together as one united team.
We battled for every ball, we fought our hearts out, we went into every tackle with 100% commitment, we ran and ran and ran and chased everything and most importantly we never stopped believing we could do it.
Well done to St Ives who played some great football. But this was our night, our moment and we deserved to lift that trophy and be called CHAMPIONS..