As the opening opponents in each of Teddington's two seasons, Abbey Rangers have a special place in Athletic folklore – but the story is changing. The outfit who came to Bushy Park in the Surrey Cup this weekend are not the team swept aside 6-2 on the first day of the season; nor are they the Abbey Rangers Diamonds side who succumbed 9-0, 14-0 and 7-2 last campaign.
Having strengthened significantly since that first week of this season, this is now a side more befitting the Abbey Rangers club who have become a respected fixture in the local leagues. Determined, muscular, well-drilled and largely successful, they have beaten four of the other six teams in the league, only coming up short – and not by much – against title favourites Wimbledon and Crystal Palace; they are just four points behind second-placed Teddington with a game in hand.
The Teddington squad rotated as usual, with Sinead Morris under the weather, Ale Fairn on duty at a Remembrance Day event and Anna Kauffmann succumbing to a troubling ankle problem that may effectively keep her out until Christmas. Ella V donned the gloves, and the management team opted to stiffen the defence to a back three of Ella Parkinson-Mearns and Saskia Brewster either side of Millie Theobald.
Ruby Rudkin anchored the midfield with Emily Coulson, behind a front three of Millie MacEacharn on the left, Amy Hallett up top and Phoebe Head on the right – despite the latter two suffering from colds. Sadie Day, Ella Dodd, Carla Novakovic and Sophie Wallman stood by as subs, urging on their comrades.
The home side had been pre-warned that this Abbey side would be better than any previous versions, and it quickly became obvious that they may also be the biggest opponents the side has yet faced. Still, the home side held firm and nimbly threatened: first Millie Mac burst through and fired over, then Emily sent Phoebe clear down the right, and with Emily bursting to get into the middle while Amy tracked toward the near post, Phoebe surprised everyone by looping a cross toward the far corner, from where it was pushed over by the alert goalkeeper.
By 15 minutes Phoebe had to come off for Sadie, and although home side had had the clearer chances, Jelly was becoming the busier goalkeeper as the strong Abbey girls won the midfield battles and tried to turn the Teddington defence – who were coping admirably, playing on the half-turn and diligently covering each other, Millie T gradually readjusting to a middle-centre-back role she hadn't played since the team's earliest days.
The rest of the first half was spent with Teddington fending off Abbey's attempts and occasionally creating a chance up the other end, notably when Emily wriggled clear in the box and warmed the goalkeeper's hands with a left-foot shot.
Half-time brought tactical tweaks and three substitutions. Ruby and Millie Mac had run themselves in the ground – the latter practically begged to come off – and not uncoincidentally produced their best performances of the season, while Amy had also defied her illness to keep chipping away up front. On came Doddsy, Carla (up top) and Phoebe (on the left), with Sophie being saved for later.
Gaining extra zip from Doddsy's physical presence, Phoebe's thrust and Carla's energy, Teddington started to dominate, helped by intelligent use of space. With Doddsy's extra insurance keeping Abbey quieter, Emily pushed on into her favoured trequartista role – and when the visitors pulled back an extra defender, that merely gave Doddsy more room to manoeuvre in midfield.
The first strong example came in the 43rd minute. Having quietly sought half-time advice on how to deal with being overloaded on her left flank, Saskia calmly retained possession and send Phoebe flying up the left to cleverly pull back for the oncoming Doddsy, who fired just wide. A couple of minutes later, the same move brought the same result, but Teddington were getting nearer.
Not that they were without scares at the other end. One one occasion, a weak Jelly free-kick from the right-back area was intercepted by an Abbey midfielder who cleverly tried to lob in from the half-way line, but the goalkeeper got back to clear. And shortly after Doddsy's second shot wide, Rangers broke away and produced a fierce shot pushed wide by Jelly. This was developing into a proper end-to-end cup tie.
Someone had to win, via extra-time and penalties if necessary, and it could have gone either way, with Abbey especially dangerous from set-pieces, but the home side – lately augmented by Sophie, playing in an unfamiliar wide-right role with typical keenness and athleticism – held their nerve and scored with just under 10 minutes left.
It was with a certain delicious irony that Teddington scored from a corner, theretofore Abbey's most threatening method, and with a goal that illustrates how the tiny can be mighty by using their intelligence. Before it even reached the near post the left-wing corner found Carla, all three foot nothing of her, hovering just inside the six-yard box and less than a yard from the bye-line.
As Abbey's much larger defenders began to converge on her, Carla calmly nutmegged the goalkeeper and watched as the ball gently ambled through the morning dew and over the goal-line. It probably didn't even have enough energy to reach the net, but by that point nobody was watching as the team (including pitch-length sprinting goalkeeper Jelly) celebrated exultantly, piling on the diminutive yet dangerous and now delirious goalscorer, marking her first goal since she began regularly playing up front.
It was undoubtedly tough on Abbey but deserved from Teddington, who had earned their lead by out-thinking their opponents. Now they had the best part of a quarter of an hour to maintain or extend the lead, and with Rangers pushing forward for an equaliser, gaps were certainly appearing.
Breaks in play for a dog on the pitch and the 11am Remembrance silence, observed on pitches across the land, irked visiting supporters but the home side's rapid counters looked as likely to cause a goal as Abbey's set-piece physicality, which was increasingly being nullified by the towering Doddsy.
As it was, the scoreline stayed at 1-0 – a first for this Teddington side, who now progress to a Surrey Cup quarter-final at Molesey Juniors. Based just over the Thames, Molesey are third in a closely-fought Division One, having won four and drawn one of seven league games in which they have only conceded six goals; in the cup, they dispatched struggling Abbey Rangers Diamonds 9-1, but they have lost league games to both Caterham Pumas and Kempton Girls.
Should Teddington beat Molesey, they would progress to a semi-final against either Fleet Town (who beat Kempton 3-1) or Crystal Palace Blues (the Division One team, who won 3-2 at Carshalton after extra time). With next weekend's trip to Colne Valley marking the start of their Capital Cup adventure, it will be intriguing to see how far Teddington go, geographically and developmentally.
TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC (3-2-3): Ella V; Ella Parkinson-Mearns, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster; Ruby Rudkin, Emily Coulson; Phoebe Head, Amy Hallett, Millie MacEacharn. SUBS Sadie Day, Ella Dodd, Carla Novakovic (1) and Sophie Wallman.
Great to see the girls dig in and work hard. Onto the next round :-)
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