I was pleased that we picked up another three points today but it wasn’t one of our better performances because for some reason or another, we struggled to get going.
Marlborough really should have taken the lead in the first-half and we gave them at least two bites at the cherry before we got our noses in front, which I have to say was against the run of play and teetering on undeserved.
Allana Ashmeil’s low drive in off the post was an excellent finish though and it helped settle us down and as the half progressed we grew stronger and eventually Sarafea Braveboy forced a goal home to give us a 2-0 lead at the break. The two goals came at the perfect time for us in the match and that’s an important ingredient for any successful side to have.
But despite our good fitness levels showing through as the half came to and end, we didn’t really show enough desire and hunger out there and at times too many of them were not putting in the effort they should have been. We spoke to them about this during the break and we came out looking more assured in the second-half.
Marlborough started to visibly fade in terms of their own fitness and struggled to deal with our attacks, especially down the right hand side where they could only clear their lines and conceded numerous corners of which we didn’t capitalise on.
We made hard work of it though and huffed and puffed our way to another three goals as well as hitting the crossbar twice. It was only when the fifth goal went in too that I actually started to feel relaxed and with 20 minutes still to go on the clock, I expected us to finish strongly but to Marlborough’s credit they hung in there and even grabbed a fine goal themselves from a fast counter attack.
At the end of the game I came away feeling as if some of the players weren’t really prepared enough for the roles they played in. We had one or two playing out of their favoured positions and at times it did show. At other times, we learned some more about their strengths and weaknesses and spotted new things we need to work on.
Still, if you don’t play your best and still come away with a convincing win in terms of the scoreline, or even if you just shade it by the odd goal, you can’t complain a great deal about that at all. So fair play to them for grinding out the win.
Team: Syan Armstrong, Alex Lupano, Chloe Julien (Jade Creighton), Nikki Crump, Ellie Sullivan, Melanie Randall, Jade Bowley (Katie Smith), Sarafea Braveboy, Scarlett Hanrahan, Danielle Clare Richards and Allana Ashmeil
Goals: Ashmeil 2, Braveboy, Richards & Smith
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