Cardea beat Burwell with 9

Cardea travelled to Bottisham to take on Burwell Tigers with the intention to make in 4 wins on the bounce and to keep in touch with league leaders Cambridge Rangers! With only 10 players being able to make the trip it didn't look promising but the ladies were high on confidence and had started the hashtag #dontcallthegameoff to persuade the club to keep the fixture on! The players didn't fail to deliver when with only 2 minutes on the clock, Jessica O'Sullivan played a great through ball for team captain Laura Rudd to run on to, Rudd still had to travel half a pitch before she calmly slotted home to make it 1-0.
Rudd had hers, and the teams 2nd goal 8 minutes later, this time assisted by Courtney Coles. A favour that Rudd would return in the 16th minute when she played the in form striker in on goal for her 7th goal of the season! At 3-0 Cardea Ladies looked to catch their breath and settle the game down until Burwell Tigers slotted home their first of the afternoon on the 21st minute, having caught the Cardea back line out to rifle one home!
Burwell then added a second 3 minutes later to make it 3-2 and this seemed to snap the girls back to life, especially Carlie Rudd who had decided she had had enough of watching from the side lines and started to kit up! The regular 1st choice goalkeeper, who had been seeing stars all week with vertigo, had a 'chat' with head coach Dan Gibbs (which he lost) and then entered the field of play at centre back alongside Steph Wagstaff.
This allowed Nicola Anderson to move in to Midfield with her CMP, Laura Rudd and this paid off quickly after Rudd was fouled just outside Burwell’s box to give Nicola Anderson the chance to open her account for the day and grab her 3rd in 2 games. It was a beautiful free kick from the edge of the box to the far corner of the goal.
Cardea's 5th found the Burwell back line wanting again after Nic played a through ball for Rudd to chase after and slot home for her hat-trick.
Burwell added a third in the 42nd minute to make it 5-3 before Cardea were protesting for what seemed to be an obvious penalty after Laura Rudd was fouled by the Burwell keeper, the ref wasn't interested and brought the half to an end.

Half-time Burwell Tigers 3-5 Cardea

Half time saw the referee learning how to blow a whistle properly and Burwell Tigers receiveing some inspiration from Thier coaches as they looked to fight back from their first half showing. This was evident as the home side begun the second half stronger and struck 2 quick goals in the first 10 minutes of the re start to give them the upper hand and clearly putting them on the front foot against a tiring Cardea side who were struggling to get out of their own half. This called for some inspired tactical thinking from both the side line and the players with players being moved around to settle the side down.
Cardea started to find their feet again when Jess found time to send a perfectly timed pass through over the top of Burwell’s defence for Courtney Coles to get her 2nd of the game and regain the lead and bringing some calm to Cardea's football.
Cardea's 7th came after skipper Rudd was prevented from shooting by the defender who caught her foot, the referee who remembered her training at half time, blew loud on her whistle for a spot kick, having seen the foul this time. Nicola Anderson stepped up to comfortably slot the penalty into the net, the centre midfielder now becoming an expert at them.
Cardea's last goal come in the 77th minute when Laura Rudd sent through Courtney Coles for her hat-trick. Burwell added the 14th goal of the game in the dying moments of the game.

Full-time: Burwell Tigers 6-8 Cardea

Head coach Dan Gibbs said after the game "wow! What a game! I have to hold my hands up and admit I didn't see that coming. This team never fails to amaze me with what they achieve time and time again! I really couldn't be prouder of them, the resilience they have shown today to get that result is fantastic!"

Cardea ladies next game is away to Leverington Sports in the women's cup!