The confidence of last week, when Newmarket had been a player short,
was nowhere to be seen as they struggled to get a foothold against
Huntingdon’s 1st team. With a full side plus a sub, the
team-work was gone, players leaving balls which they should have
made their own.
More even play at the start,
saw the home side with some good attempts at goal that went wide or
were blocked by the ‘keeper. As time went on, however, Huntingdon
were allowed to dominate the game with Newmarket reacting rather
than directing the play.
The game was peppered with free
hits and penalty corners. Newmarket can take heart from the
strength of their defence as Huntingdon were prevented from scoring
from their corners, despite an impressive range of strikers.
‘Keeper Sue Bullimore was named Newmarket’s player of the match for
her many well judged saves and marshalling of the defence.
After a frustrating first half,
‘market began to drift from their positions in the second.
Confidence wasn’t helped by the Huntingdon goal 4 minutes in, just
sneaking in on the left post from across the goal.
There were some good individual
performances, reliable Hazel Sadler made a welcome return at the
back but as a team Newmarket appeared confused when they found
themselves in possession of the ball and unstructured when pushing
forward. Rachel Allen made some excellent moves up the right wing
but lacked the support to reach goal. Finishing touches were all
that were required on a number of occasions but without them, shots
sailed wide of the goal.
It was by no means a walkover,
Newmarket can move forward from this game and they retain the
potential to do well. Team practice on a Tuesday and calm heads on
a Saturday will be essential over the forthcoming season. Newmarket
are away at Cambridge on Saturday.
