Bishops Stortford 2 - Kinja Rockets 3.

Kinja rockets made the long journey for the 3rd time this season to the very sunny home of Bishops Stortford FC for their final league fixture of the season on Saturday morning.
The rockets had already been crowned league champions without kicking a ball as their opponents (St Albans city South) forfeited a midweek fixture thus giving the rockets the 3 points which kept the gap at the top to 5 points with 1 game to play but as usual the rockets had brought a strong squad for this game.
The rockets were missing several key players in Anna, Riley, Alex, Indie and Joya as well as their influential manager for this game but again the players put in yet another excellent performance to come away victorious in this end to end encounter.
With Seamus in charge of the team for the day he opted to keep the same formation that the rockets have had great success with this season and as usual he was passionate about the game and the team and the players fed off of his positive energy.
The rockets got off to an excellent start, constantly testing the Stortford keeper through the very impressive Nicole and it was the leagues top striker who gave the rockets the lead they deserved, With both Guste and Nicole playing up front their movement had a huge part to play in the 1st goal, The 2 strikers played quite a distance apart which created huge holes down the middle of the pitch, Mia B received the ball from Regan and as she travelled forward Guste came towards the halfway line which dragged her marker with her, Mia B then rolled the ball to Guste who turned her marker and played the ball into the space she had created and that left Nicole in a race with her marker which Nicole won and fired low and hard across the keeper to give the rockets a dream start with only 5 minutes played.
Stortford are an excellent side and they began to exert a lot of pressure on the rockets back 3 but Regan, Audrey and Mia G were again in excellent form, blocking long range shots, forcing players out wide and holding players up long enough until support arrived and when they were able to get something on target the rockets stand in keeper Kasey dealt with it well.
As Stortford went on the attack the rockets then began to play some excellent counter attacking football and this brought the rockets 2nd goal of the game.
Defensive rock and team captain Regan again won a challenge on the edge of the box and released the ball to Jess, Jess then played the ball forward to Guste who came to the ball on the halfway line again and she cheekily allowed the ball to roll through her legs, Nicole then just ran into the space that Guste had created and again Nicole was 1 on 1 with the keeper and despite an excellent attempt to save the shot from Nicole by the Stortford keeper the ball ended up in the net to give Nicole her 2nd goal and the rockets a 2 goal lead.
Stortford have a really fast striker who gave Regan a tough game but as captains do Regan led by example, she used her body and the speed of the ball cleverly on several occasions to edge the striker off the ball and kept the Stortford attacking players at bay.
On 35 minutes Stortford pulled a goal back when a long ball forward caught the rockets midfield out of position which left the rockets rearguard exposed, With a fortunate bounce the ball fell kindly to a Stortford striker inside the box and she gave Kasey no chance to bring Stortford to within a goal of the rockets. Then on the stroke of halftime the speedy Stortford striker drew her team level when for the 1st time in the game she was able to get away from Regan and as she drove into the box she sent a shot high into the net despite ther best attempts of Kasey to keep the ball out.
At half time the message from Seamus was to continue to play football the Kinja way, Stay disciplined, dont be afraid to express yourself and stay focussed and you will get something out of the game.
Kasey made way in goal for Guste to have a stint in goal and Kasey went up front to partner Nicole and instanly the partnership started to work, Player of the match Lillian who had an excellent game for the rockets began to find Kasey regularly and with her back to goal and Nicole constantly on the move she was knocking the ball into space and down the channels for Nicole and this created 3 - 4 good chances early in the 2nd half.
With 6 minutes gone in the 2nd half the rockets took the lead they deserved, Lillian received the ball on the left flank and as she cut infield she delivered a lovely reverse pass into the left channel where Jess was sprinting down the wing and at full stretch the Stortford full back was able to poke the ball out for a throw, Lillian took the resulting throw and threw the ball into Kasey who was 5 yards outside the area, Kasey chested the ball up into the air and as it dropped she caught it sweetly on the volley and the ball flew into the top left hand corner of the goal to put the rockets 3-2 ahead but with still 35 minutes to play.
Guste had a couple of half chances to deal with in the next 10 minutes but nothing to worry her or the rest of the team, Aimee then took over from Guste in goal for the remainder of the game and she made an excellent save in the last 10 minutes, after a good counter attack from the rockets Stortford again were able to set their fast attacker away and as she burst clear from Regan and drove into the box she fired her shot directly at Aimee who was standing in the perfect position, Aimee parried the effort away from goal and gladly fell on the loose ball.
Kasey had a great chance to put the result beyond reach with 8 minutes left but her effort whistled over the bar from 15 yards.
The game management shown by the rockets was excellent in the last 5 minutes plus the 3 minutes added time, The rockets won a thrown on 18 yards from their own goal, Mia G took the throw and as the ball was aimed at Lillian she angled her body at 45 degrees with her back to the pitch which virtually guaranteed another rockets throw as she simply allowed her opponent to nip in and touch the ball back out of play, this saw the rockets move 80 yards up the field with 4 consecutive throws, As balls were played into the channels the rockets would chase and harrass the Stortford players and this ensured the ball stayed deep in the oppositions half until the referee blew the final whistle.
Although this game was meaningless in respect of points and championships the game was still treated as a competitive fixture by both sides but also the game was played in a sporting manner and the levels of sportsmanship showed by both teams was excellent and all involved with both clubs should be proud of themselves.
Team
Kasey, Audrey, Regan, Mia G, Jess, Ashleigh, Lindsey, Guste, Nicole, Mia B, Aimee, Elle, Lillian,