Sun 13 Mar: Teddington Athletic 3-1 Crystal Palace Blues

Your correspondent wasn’t there, but he is glad to report that Teddington’s girls recovered well from the chastening defeat to the same team a fortnight earlier.

Despite a wrist operation earlier in the week, Ale Fairn was willing enough to follow in on a shot and received a striker’s favourite reward by gobbling up a rebound for the opening goal.

The team as a whole played well, working hard for each other and communicating more efficiently than has sometimes been the case. For example, defensive stalwarts Millie Theobald and Saskia Brewster corrected an initial problem with through-balls – a recurring problem recently – by covering for each other. And in midfield, Liz Kriebel – another player asked by the manager to be more vocal on the pitch – overcame her initial reticence and stretched Teddington’s lead with a superbly executed free-kick lofted over the goalkeeper.

Demonstrating their own increasing confidence, Palace Blues halved the lead before half-time - but a subtle half-time tactical tweak, coupled with renewed determination from a squad whose fitness is clearly improving with the weekly running sessions, helped to negate any risk of a comeback. And the result was put beyond doubt when Liz surpassed the excellence of her first goal with an even better second, taking a few steps before floating a superb clincher over the goalkeeper.

And so the girls go into what has now become a double-header (two 40-minute games, to respect the FA maximum of 80 minutes’ play per day at this age range) against Abbey Rangers. The Addlestone outfit drew 2-2 with Maidenhead, a result which leaves them three points and three places below the Berkshire team in a season with plenty of surprises to come.