Kinja Rockets 3 - Bishop Stortford 3.
Kinja Rockets were involved in an end to end clash against a very good Bishop Stortford team at the very chilly and windy hive on Saturday morning.
With Kinja having won all their league games to date and Stortford losing only once this game could have a big say in who will be crowned league champions at the end of the season and all who attended were thoroughly entertained as this game had it all.
The rockets had an understrength team with 3 players injured and unwell ( which we hope will feel better soon) and 4 players with other commitments but those that did attend put in a good performance and done themselves proud.
Despite having a knee injury Ashleigh played in goal and done very well considering she is not a goalkeeper.
The wind was an advantage to the team that had the wind behind them and Stortford had the wind behind them in the 1st half and they used it to their advantage as they had several wind assisted efforts very early in the game which Ashleigh dealt with comfortably, on 6 minutes the Stortford keeper launched a kick upfield and the ball was allowed to bounce and a Stortford midfielder struck a shot from about 30 yards out which bobbled past Ashleigh to give Stortford the lead that they deserved.
The rockets had a couple of half chances through both Nicole and Bella but the keeper was equal to. Nicole proved to be a real pain to the Stortford rearguard as her close ball control and vision started to create problems for the visitors and her efforts were rewarded on 18 minutes when Mia B broke from midfield and slid a perfect pass between 2 central defenders and as Nicole opened up her body the goalkeeper dived to her right and Nicole shot to the goalkeepers left and the ball nestled in the bottom corner for the equalising goal.
The goal from Nicole appeared to re energise the rockets as Stortford were forced to defend deeper and deeper and more questions were being asked of the Stortford keeper and on 25 minutes the rockets were denied the lead by an unfair offside decision, Lillian fed the ball to Mia B who in turn passed to Nicole who forced a good save from the very impressive Stortford keeper but as she parried the ball across the face of the goal Bella who was level with the penalty spot when Nicole shot ran past 3 players who were stood in a line on the edge of the 6 yard box and fired high into the net but the referees assistant was flagging for offside and the match official chose not to overrule him so the goal was disallowed and the scores remained level going into half time.
With the rockets with the wind behind them in the 2nd half the Storford defence were put under ever increasing pressure but they seemed to be coping with it well until the 44th minute when Guste won possession in midfield and released Nicole who raced away and emphatically finished from 12 yards to put the rockets ahead by 2 goals to 1.
For the next 5 minutes Stortford could not get out of their own half and on 50 minutes Aimee got the goal of the game, after playing the ball out from right back Aimee travelled upfield and as the ball broke loose from a tackle in midfield Aimee curled a delightful right footed shot up and over the keeper to put the rockets 3-1 ahead.
The joy was short lived as only 3 minutes after the rockets created a 2 goal cushion then Stortford reduced it back to 1 with a goal scored on a breakaway, The instruction from the rockets manager was to pass forward but on too many occasions the ball was played sideways and that was where the equaliser came from with only 3 minutes remaining, As the rockets midfield attempted to play across the field the ball was intercepted and it was left to the rockets back 3 to try and stop 5 Stortford players and the numerical advantage proved too much as the Storford striker fired past Ashleigh who could do absolutely nothing about it to bring the score level.
Nicole had a glorious chance in the last few seconds as she cut inside the area and fired inches over the bar.
Well done to all the girls who put on a good performance under difficult circumstances and a huge pat on the back to Ashleigh who kindly agreed to go in goal for the team.
Team.
Ashleigh,Aimee,Regan,Mia G,Kasey,Mia B,Lillian,Nicole,Guste,Bella.