MATCH REPORT

Long Sutton ladies 2's travelled to Cambridge on a sunny Saturday afternoon for the penultimate match of the season. In what has been a terrific season so far, Sutton wanted to finish strongly but knew that they were in for a very stern test against not only top of the league (on games played) but a team that had not dropped any points all season.

Sutton started with the pushback, Cambs South electing to have the sun at their backs first, but were soon pushed back and the defence of Julie Skate, Claire Sisson, Lucy Smith and Emma Grosvenor had to be exceptionally alert to ensure that Cambs South did not take an early lead. This they did though, with Cambs South having lots of possession but stuggling to get any real penetration into the Sutton D. When they did, though, Wallis was on hand. Any short corners won were also expertly defended by the resolute defence. Although Sutton were having to defend in numbers, they worked hard to try to take the game to South and Esme Whitelam in particular covered every blade of Astro, ably assisted by Jasmine Smith, in yet another different position, and Sarah Skate. The forward line of Florence Perowne, Wendy Canham and Immi Cooper were also putting in a shift tracking back to put pressure on South and also trying to stretch the game to give the defence some respite. With a squad of 13, Sutton were also able to rotate with Aimee Betts again showing great improvement, and George Synott coming on to ensure the tempo never dropped. Half-time came with the score 0-0.

Sutton grew into the game further in the second half and possession was more evenly matched, Sutton winning short corners of their own to put pressure on South. Florence Perowne found herself in the D and put in a great shot which went narrowly wide. A warning sign for Cambs which they failed to heed. 10 minutes in, Sutton were to get their reward with a great ball out of defence to Esme Whitelam, who played an intelligent ball to George Synnott who with a first- time pass laid the ball on to Immi Cooper who had got in behind the defence with a brilliantly timed run. She only had the keeper to beat and did so with aplomb. 1-0 Sutton! Much to the delight of the whole squad. South had clearly not been in this position and seemed initially stunned, but soon recovered, continuing to fight to try to get their 15th win of the season to keep their 100% record. But this was not a day to take on the mighty green army with the whole team putting in a huge effort to ensure the game ended with a 1-0 win and joyous celebrations at the final whistle. What a game, what a team!

Player of the match votes were spread with Esme Whitelam and Immi Cooper narrowly coming second to a deserved winner in Florence Perowne.