Ladies battle hard

Havering Ladies had a tough start to the East Premier League, losing 1-5 to fellow promoted team Bury St Edmunds at home at Campion school. Both teams started strongly and the game went from end to end. Steph Prowse, Monica Dubb, Emma Sharp and Alison Isherwood in defence had plenty to do but soaked up the early pressure. Keeper Sophie McCoy made some excellent saves.

Sue Harwood began to cause problems as she drove at the Bury defence. One resulted in a penalty corner and Katie Griggs saw her shot go just wide. Bury broke the deadlock, controversially taking the ball out of a tackle and moving it up the pitch quickly and neatly placing it into the goal. Havering rallied and worked hard to get back into the game, Catherine Johnson, Bethan Isherwood, Alex Semon and Griggs battled in the midfield whilst Izzy Purdie, Amy Kelly and Tilly Bunn began to find ways down the wings.

Bury however were strong and Prowse made an excellent last ditch tackle when it looked like they were through. Bury continued to build and were rewarded with a second goal. Just on half time Havering pulled one back, Harwood winning a penalty corner with one of her runs. Sharp’s initial shot was saved but she was quick on to the rebound and drove the ball across the goal where Emily Gilkes-Tarsey deflected it into the goal. On the restart Havering created an early chance; Johnson, Purdie and Harwood combining well but Bury dealt with it and sped up the pitch to score a third. They added a fourth soon after, capitalising on a wayward pass.

Havering kept battling and Johnson, Harwood and Gilkes-Tarseyall saw chances go just wide. McCoy pulled off several more good saves but Bury finally added a fifth again from a quick break. It was a steep learning curve but there were lots of positives to take forward.