The 2s are all right

Now we're getting into the swing of these longer journeys to away matches it is becoming clear different people approach them in different ways. There's the snoozers and the non-stop chatters, varying lengths of comfort breaks, and if you're really lucky chat of carpet cleaning and laundry strategies. Let's just say car allocation is a lottery.

We all made it to Sheffield this weekend... eventually. It seems only one car got it right first time though. Our tardiness wasn't the reason for the lacklustre pre-match prep this week though. The blame for that lies in a lack of pitch time and an impromptu history lesson.

When the game got under way, Sheffield came out of the blocks at speed. Camping in our half and winning (at least) 10 shorts in first 10 mins. It was clear that a lack of sleep gives Maggie super powers and she was up for the challenge, swatting away shots from all angles.

As Sheffield piled on the pressure we found it hard to break out of defence. In the end it felt like a case of trying too hard to force the ball through a congested midfield. As the game went on we started to relax and do what we do best - use the width our formation affords us and work in triangles to create space.

As the half came to an end, a quick break down the right flank gave us an overload, resulting in Chell winning a short corner. In what turned out to be the last play of the half our routine was the counterpoint to Sheffield's unsuccessful efforts earlier in the match. Expertly injected by Chloe, stopped by Tiny and finished by Emily with a drag flick into top left corner!

The second half proceeded much as the first had with the defence soaking up a lot of pressure.

We found more space to outlet the ball however and secured a couple of good chances to take the keeper on. One fell to Chell, set up on the top of the D by a square pass from Tiny. The other came to Alice, storming forward from right back onto a well-timed pass from Anna. Sadly neither were able to out fox the keeper in the Sheffield goal.

If you ever need a mild mid-match pep talk, Jenny's your gal. Today's words of wisdom came around the 50 minute mark as we held off yet another sustained period of pressure:

"Sometimes we need to remember that we're all right."

As time wore on they had even more short corners. And despite a few getting through to Sheffield players on the posts, they were still unable to convert.

It was perhaps inevitable that they finally got their breakthrough. Transfering the ball quickly from left to right a gap appeared. An injection of pace from the right winger driving to the back line caused Craggs to slip leaving a free cross across the D. Another fine initial save led to a goal mouth scramble - it was a Sheffield player who got the final touch to put the ball into the goal leaving both Alice and Maggie flat on their backs.

For the final 5 minutes the game became one of protecting a point as the blue shirts continued to flood forward. A tactical change proposed by Chell helped us to see the game out for the draw.

Player of the match: Maggie