SMITH: Stand-in Jess proves a star goalkeeper
Published Date:
27 March 2008
By Sue Smith
Sue's World
Well, after the highs of reaching the Women's FA Cup final, it was back to business with an England game last Thursday against the Czech Republic and a league match for Leeds at Chelsea on Easter Sunday.
Firstly, the international match.
It was live on BBC3 and the venue was the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster so I had lots of family and friends watching.
But it wasn't the most entertaining game for the weather was awful and the Czechs put 11 players behind the ball.
we struggled to break them down as well as cope with the conditions so the game ended a very dull 0-0.
The one positive we can take is that we didn't lose and we all know we can play much better so the return match away from home will be key.
On to the Leeds game. As the snow had fallen quite a lot throughout the country I presumed the match would be called off.
However, the pitch at Chelsea is very good and the snow hadn't quite reached there, so away we went at eight in the morning.
The odds were definitely against us when our goalkeeper, Carly Telford, fell ill and our reserve keeper was in Ireland on international duty.
We had to call on our centre-back, Jess Wright, to go in goal.
Jess sometimes goes in goal after training and looked quite good.
I did offer, but said I could only dive one way and they can't shoot from inside the area, so they turned me down!
As we were travelling down Amanda Barr had an incident in her car so we were down yet another player.
However, despite the odds being against us, we put in a decent performance and got the three points, winning 2-1.
Jess was definitely the star of the show, particularly when she made a save or cleared the ball and then bowed and waved to the crowd.
While it's been Easter my little niece, Ella, has been down to see us.
She is nearly one now and she has got her auntie Sue (or woo as she calls me) completely wrapped around her little finger.
She is so cute but such hard work – maybe I'll put having children off for another few years!
Talking of children, Rachel McArthur, our club captain, is due her first child so we are all very excited and hopefully he/she can be our lucky mascot on May 5 for the Women's FA Cup final against Arsenal in Nottingham.
Our next game is on Sunday against Watford at Tadcaster Albion at 2pm, so if you're at a loose end feel free to come and support us.
The full article contains 456 words and appears in EP Leeds First & County newspaper.
-
Last Updated:
27 March 2008 10:41 AM
-
Source:
EP Leeds First & County
-
Location:
Leeds