Pink Panther
Well-Known Member
We lost 4-3 away to London Bees this afternoon. It was a competitive game, but I felt they outwitted us somewhat. The better sides in this division will press us in our own half to stop us building from the back, as we did last season before wearing our opponents down.
We ended up chasing the game after conceding in the 3rd minute, yet we'd almost taken the lead seconds earlier ourselves when a shot was only partially blocked by the keeper and the ball bounced and bobbled around the goalline before it was somehow cleared to safety. Ten minutes later we were a whisker away from equalising when Phoebe Leitch's beautiful curling shot from the left edge of the box seemed destined for the top corner of the net, only to rebound off the angle of post and bar. Again we were immediately in trouble at the other end, conceding a corner that led to a second goal for Bees. We pulled one back quickly after Angie Dunbar-Bonnie was tripped inside the box and Lily Price converted from the spot. We were having plenty of the ball, yet could easily have been more than one goal behind at the interval after Bees repeatedly forced turnovers inside our half, while their miniature captain caused a lot of problems with clever movement and anticipation to find pockets of space around the edge of our box.
It looked like normal service had been resumed, as Hamlet equalised around five minutes after the break when a great delivery from the left into the centre of the goal area was powerfully headed home by Martha Goddard. However Bees regained their lead by scoring again from a corner. Just over ten minutes remained when Hamlet equalised a second time, as a free kick into the goalmouth as miscued by a defender, and popped up conveniently for Morgan Searle to head over the line from point blank range. We appeared to be favourites at this stage, but Bees scored the best goal of the match to win it, when a long ball out of their own half released their centre forward in the inside right channel, and she fired an unstoppable shot into the far corner from the edge of the box.
The linesman on the near side appeared to have no comprehension of the criterion "the whole of the ball over the whole of the line" when awarding throws, and seemed to be working on a "more out than in" basis. I reckon he gave at least three phantom throws against us, the last and most obvious of which led to the winner immediately after a throw deep inside their half, after Angie stopped the ball with a big piece of it clearly on the line. However, we probably need to become a bit more streetwise to succeed at this level. I thought Bees looked better than a side with only one point from their first 3 games, but they seem to have had tough fixtures. I'm sure today was part of a learning curve, and there will be plenty of better days to come.
We ended up chasing the game after conceding in the 3rd minute, yet we'd almost taken the lead seconds earlier ourselves when a shot was only partially blocked by the keeper and the ball bounced and bobbled around the goalline before it was somehow cleared to safety. Ten minutes later we were a whisker away from equalising when Phoebe Leitch's beautiful curling shot from the left edge of the box seemed destined for the top corner of the net, only to rebound off the angle of post and bar. Again we were immediately in trouble at the other end, conceding a corner that led to a second goal for Bees. We pulled one back quickly after Angie Dunbar-Bonnie was tripped inside the box and Lily Price converted from the spot. We were having plenty of the ball, yet could easily have been more than one goal behind at the interval after Bees repeatedly forced turnovers inside our half, while their miniature captain caused a lot of problems with clever movement and anticipation to find pockets of space around the edge of our box.
It looked like normal service had been resumed, as Hamlet equalised around five minutes after the break when a great delivery from the left into the centre of the goal area was powerfully headed home by Martha Goddard. However Bees regained their lead by scoring again from a corner. Just over ten minutes remained when Hamlet equalised a second time, as a free kick into the goalmouth as miscued by a defender, and popped up conveniently for Morgan Searle to head over the line from point blank range. We appeared to be favourites at this stage, but Bees scored the best goal of the match to win it, when a long ball out of their own half released their centre forward in the inside right channel, and she fired an unstoppable shot into the far corner from the edge of the box.
The linesman on the near side appeared to have no comprehension of the criterion "the whole of the ball over the whole of the line" when awarding throws, and seemed to be working on a "more out than in" basis. I reckon he gave at least three phantom throws against us, the last and most obvious of which led to the winner immediately after a throw deep inside their half, after Angie stopped the ball with a big piece of it clearly on the line. However, we probably need to become a bit more streetwise to succeed at this level. I thought Bees looked better than a side with only one point from their first 3 games, but they seem to have had tough fixtures. I'm sure today was part of a learning curve, and there will be plenty of better days to come.
