MATCH REPORT

An early start and one of the first frosts of the season greeted the ladies as they made the journey to Wilberforce Road in Cambridge. Buoyed by the success of 6 points from the previous 2 weekends, the message was as clear as the sky. A team of 12 and the luxury of Coach Neil Evans in attendance for the early proceedings and the team were looking to put on a good show for him. Long Sutton started with a high press against a young team who made up any loss in experience with boundless energy. A starting midfield quartet of Jo Bland, Gemma Parr, Emmy Gittins and Jemima Dodd created a wall which was to remain intact all day. Connie Gittins and Amber Jones cut off the transfers and ran intelligent lines from the first minute to the last which meant that CU found it almost impossible to break out of their own half. Any long hopeful balls were picked up by the defense who also cut out any sniff the home team thought they had. The first goal took 15 minutes and was created by Maisie Sullivan intercepting a long ball just inside the CU half. She moved forward before threading a ball through to Amber Jones who drove into the D before unleashing a shot from the right hand side top of the D which rose sharply before taking a deflection off the last defender and evaded the outstretched keepers glove. This settled the Sutton side even more and the half was played out to the tune set by the experience of Bland and Parr. With time running out in the first half a quick free hit on the top of the D found Amber Jones who deftly passed to Connie Gittins. In a packed D, Gittins rounded the keeper, Katie Collingwood-Smith took the ball close to the base line, her push shot hit a foot on the line and Connie followed up and forced home. Excellent advantage and an excellent half time. It was a hard pitch to play on being physically demanding and very bouncy, so game management was again the predominant discussion during the interval. Sutton wanted to keep the tempo high and the ball in the U half. Gemma Parr and Emmy Gittins controlled the games pace early in the second half which meant that Sutton continued to dominate and create. Bland, now playing on the right constantly beat her markers to find space wide and the chances flowed. Collingwood Smith and Dodd were dominating the left-hand side to allow no space or time for CU. With the clock ticking down, Sutton could easily have played out time, but instead kept hammering away at the door and with seconds left, a brilliant short corner call was dispatched by Bland. 3 wins on the bounce has put Long Sutton 3 points behind second place Bury St Edmunds who we play next Saturday afternoon. The confidence shown on Saturday means that the ladies are in the best form possible and ready to play a top side. 8 goals for and 0 against should give concern to the 2nd place team but time will tell. Self-belief and team spirit will hopefully see the points yet again travelling home in green. The best performance of the year this week will need to be matched in Suffolk next. Well played all.