The first adventure of the Banana!

An autumn sunny day and we were off on the road again, this time to Stockton. For some this trip would include a detour around the local airport.
We all arrived in good time so much so that some decided to have a lovely chat in the Tesco car park opposite the pitch. There was the usual dressing room chats until the Hodgson’s arrived with the semi banana that had been purchased on route! This clammy banana provided much amusement to the juveniles in the room.

A new type of warm up took place which involved pulling back the curtains and moving the goals before doing another lap of the pitch, some stretches and the mega sprints.
Nicky and Brian did the huddle and then we set up ready to play for each other. After warming our legs, sticks and brains up we started to attack. Laura, with two surnames, broke the deadlock with a lovely shot at the top after a beautiful passing move with jabba the hodge down the middle of the pitch.

Meanwhile Lou lou spent the 1st 10mins thinking we were playing in white, so was struggling to know where to pass. We started to move the ball well and as a result more goals started to make that lovely sound off the back board. However for every goal we scored there were another three that were saved by the keeper. The colour change crisis was catching and now Bazi struggling to cheer the team on as she was unsure of our colour strip. “COME ON.... Er.... bl...whites!”
Once Lou had worked out who to mark on the pitch today, she smashed out all types of lunges! And Brian made yet another epic substitution sending Suze on to score with her first touch!
As we began to push down the wings Baz did her best “don’t mess with me” police stance to scare the girl from the opposition away and then followed it up with a cackle of laughter. Stockton began to make a wave or two in our half but the defence stood strong. Well most did. Hannah needs to seriously work on her core strength as she was body checked with such force that she fell to her feet with a “Jesus!” Not sure her parents would be happy.
Obviously leading up to the game the team were very much concerned about our star player and her toe! “It’s fine!” Were her words! Well it was fine until it got ‘tapped’ again and then Audrey’s toe was no longer fine and the ability to run was far to painful for princess Audrey! Not wanting to let Audrey steal the foot injury crown both Nicky and Fi came off due to foot pains. The second half saw the team pick up the pace and put more pressure on them. Obviously Hannah felt the need to have a little rest as she slid to her bottom but this time she had no one anywhere near her. Great tackles and calm passes did follow from her for the rest of the game so the rest must have been perfect! Those on the sideline played by the rules and had bibs however it was Princess Nicky that stole the catwalk this time. Her look was very much bang on trend, styling out the bib that only fitted Bobby as this years fashion accessories....The ‘underboob’ top. Can be adapted for evening functions by being worn with only a bra underneath.
To finish off a flurry of goals Bobi pinged in the final one with a lovely post up.
So with a win under our belts it was only right to full our bellies with teas. And what a delight they were!
It was lovely to have a good old chat with Stockton and it was only Rachel that still had her competitive head on telling us not to give away our formation as we will be playing them again! Just as we all finished Lou was given a kind offer of a lift back home by the umpire! But as good teams always do... we didn’t leave anyone behind and Lou was safety dropped home.

As Muhammad Ali once stated “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'” With two very big games coming up... Be better than him! Love every minute of training! Because it will be what makes the difference between them and us! Laugh a lot. Run a lot more! Be the difference!