The original quarter-final the previous week had been iced off, which allowed Teddington to recall Ruby Rudkin. The goalkeeper had been unavailable for the original date, and might also have missed the rematch – she hurt her back and had troubles sorting a lift – but Teddington would be glad she made it.
The visiting squad was depleted by the absences of Ella Bothamley, Millie MacEacharn and Sadie Day but that merely meant an opportunity for Emily Bashford to start – and back at the pitch where she scored her first Teddington goal, in last season’s 3-2 win, she almost bagged again. Twice in the first two minutes she tested the Fleet goalkeeper, and on each occasion she had fashioned the chance through skilfully turning her defender and breaking through before her low shot was snaffled.
Fleet retaliated with threat from their own swift wide player, the No.11 who habitually drifts in from the left: in the third minute she raced cleared of Millie Theobald to shoot just wide.
A minute later a ball over the top required the combined efforts of Millie, Hannah Hutchison and Saskia Brewster to avert the danger. If that served as a warning, it didn’t work and on five minutes Teddington went behind when Fleet outmuscled the defence.
The visitors almost hit back immediately via a move of commendable teamwork. Winning the ball in midfield, Emily Coulson laid off for Giulia Clini and got on her bike. Giulia played it forward to Ella Dodd, who pulled out a lovely piece of forward play by holding off her defender on the edge of the box and laying an intelligent ball around the corner for Emily to retrieve. Em’s clipped shot was pushed wide for a corner which Liz Kriebel fizzed across an unattended six-yard box.
With Fleet as robust and organised as ever, it took a while for Teddington to get a hold of the game and break them down. When they made headway, it was again through footballing intelligence and teamwork, with lessons learned in training paying off in the match.
In recent sessions the girls have been working on overlaps, with Saskia and her fellow full-back Anna Kauffmann encouraged use their pace and skill in more advanced positions. Anna had her hands full with the No.11, but Sas spied a chance and in the 21st minute, knowing she was diligently covered by captain Carla Novakovic filling in, she burst forward and just kept going, eventually hitting the bye-line and pulling back a dangerous cross which the goalkeeper had to deal with.
Two minutes later Sas was involved again, linking with Em to feed Liz, who dragged back with her right foot to shoot just wide with her left from 25 yards. This creativity was combined with a dogged determination to get the ball in the first place – no easy task with Fleet – and it was this mix of hard work and good play that brought Teddington level in the 27th minute.
Generally floating around seeking the spaces between midfield and attack doesn’t preclude Giulia from digging in and working hard when Teddington are out of possession. Here the new girl had her best game yet, and her hard work helped create the leveller. Having won the ball Giulia had the vision to spread wide to Em, whose cross was parried by the goalkeeper but Doddsy pounced on the rebound and levelled from 12 yards. It was her seventh of the season, taking her halfway to the 14 she managed in 2014/15 ago before more frequently being used further back last term.
Sadly, having worked so hard to regain parity, Teddington threw it away a minute later through the contemptuously familiar weakness of allowing a header at a corner – but to their credit, they plugged away and might have equalised four times in the 35th minute alone. First Liz unleashed a long-ranger which the goalkeeper did well to push wide. From the corner, Giulia bulleted a header which was zooming into the top corner before the keeper astonishingly shovelled it onto the bar; even then, Teddington were first to the second ball (which Emily fired into a covering defender) and the third ball (which Carla shot just wide).
A strong first half required little tactical tweaking at the break, although Doddsy and Bash were rested off for Ale Fairn and Amy Hallett. Again the latter, Teddington’s youngest but perhaps most tactically flexible player, was used in the wide-right attacking position she frequently occupied during the team’s first season – but she was also on standby to replace Millie T in the heart of defence should the stalwart centre-back succumb to the inflamed throat that had been bothering her all week. In the end she would feature in at three different positions during the course of a single half, and acquit herself well in each. Such is the type of player Teddington tend to breed.
Indeed Amy’s pace and quiet fearlessness tested Fleet early on, but the best move came down the other flank and involved half the team. Ruby’s sidefooted goal-kick to Millie T was worked via Sas and Carla to Em, who sent Ale scampering through. The defence won that battle but Ale would not give up.
Soon enough, Teddington threatened down the right. Coffee laid on for Amy to find Giulia, whose clever clip almost sent Em through – the defender couldn’t prevent the shot but put her under enough pressure to lift her shot just over from the edge of the box.
As Teddington pressed, they more frequently made inroads into the area. Just after the hour, one challenge left Ale on the floor; coach Bondy was incensed but the referee explained that he felt the striker had gone over the defender’s leg.
Fleet were far from finished, and might have doubled their lead with 11 minutes to go but for a vital interception. When Teddington’s usually effective, homer-infuriating offside trap failed for once, Millie T dug back, didn’t give the striker a moment’s peace and eventually snuffled the ball away.
Still, with Teddington 10 minutes from exiting the cup, it was time to risk a little defensive solidity by throwing more players forward. Substituting the position rather than the player, the management staff – after long discussions around the various options afforded by their flexible players – withdrew the blameless Coffee for the pace of the reintroduced Bash to push Fleet backwards.
Amy temporarily dropped into a floating right-sided midfield role, her head on casters as she kept checking for any danger in the hole behind her, and four minutes later she was on the move again as Teddington played their last card. Doddsy raced back on up top, to replace one of the deeper midfielders. It might have been Liz, who had run herself ragged (Carla, as usual, looked like she was perfectly capable of jogging home if need be), but at the last moment the decision was taken to keep the American on the pitch for her ability to deliver into the box, especially from dead balls.
Later that evening on MotD2, gormless apologist Phil Neville would claim that it’s usually difficult for players to switch positions during the game. Evidently his Manchester United and England colleagues aren’t as intelligent as Teddington’s players. With Dave Waldron windmilling his arms and relaying instructions to his ever-ready troops, the visitors slipped into your everyday common-or-garden 3-1-3-3 formation: Amy dropped back alongside Millie and Sas; Hutch patrolled the area in front to pick up and recycle clearances; Liz switched to the right wing in a creative trident with Giulia and Em; and up top, Doddsy offered a physical presence to embellish Bash’s pace and Ale’s natural ability.
And indeed it was Ale who levelled the scores with five minutes to go. Loving the freedom of her wider role, Liz lifted the ball into the area and Ale calmly lofted the ball over the oncoming goalkeeper. A difficult shot executed with stunning calmness, it belied – and hopefully banished – the 13 months of anguish in which Ale has celebrated just one goal and suffered multiple injury knocks. At her best, Ale has the natural instincts to score against any team; despite her troubles she has remained upbeat and her recent training performances have given her (and her coaches) the confidence that the good times will return.
First, though, there was the business of finishing this game. With Abbey Rangers waiting in the semi-finals, there had to be a winner on the day – and before kick-off the two teams’ coaches had agreed to go straight to penalties.
Teddington’s coaches had elected not to burden their players with this worry until necessary; as Ruby’s cry of “Oh no!” echoed round Oakley Park, the assistant manager rushed across the turf to remind her – out of earshot of the outfielders – that penalty shootouts rarely make goalkeepers into villains but frequently into heroes. To take two examples from her beloved Liverpool, Bruce Grobbelaar helped them become champions of Europe in 1984 and Jerzy Dudek in 2005.
Not many of the Teddington players were exactly sprinting up to put their names forward, but they did their jobs well. Liz planted the first one firmly past the goalkeeper’s right hand; Fleet equalised.
Doddsy confidently followed Liz’s lead...
Up stepped Hutch, who sent her shot toward the top-left corner but just wide. She didn’t deserve that: few players are as diligent and responsible as the newcomer, whose entire weekend is built around playing (and coaching) football, and she should be proud of her work as an ever-present at the back.
That meant Fleet would level it at 3-3 after four spot-kicks each unless Ruby could save their next effort. She got mighty close, touching distance indeed, throwing herself to her left but not quite in time to get enough of her body behind it. Giulia’s penalty was a peach, hammering into the top corner, and Fleet’s next taker is to be commended for holding her nerve and sending the ball past Ruby’s right hand - and the teams into sudden death.
Amy was quickly nominated and sent forward, a picture of calm as she planted the ball to the goalkeeper’s left – but agonisingly just wide of the post. That meant Ruby had to save the next penalty; she stood tall, hammering the crossbar, channeling the spirit of Grobbelaar, and watched the Fleet girl put her penalty wide.
With few Teddington players willing to take a spot-kick, the idea emerged in the managerial brains’ trust: what about Ruby? Already drenched in spotlight and adrenaline, she seemed surprised but not fazed.
Leathering the ball into the bottom-left corner to put Teddington 5-4 up, she then returned to the goal-line and saved Fleet’s final penalty to win the match.
Now Teddington go on to face a late-January semi-final Abbey, against whom they have twice played well and lost unluckily this season. They will have the chance to put that right twice in three weeks, as the fixture list has served up a league game against them a fortnight before; January also starts with a league rematch against Fleet, while the final game before the February half-term is set to be against Maidenhead. The girls have proven, brilliantly, how they can mix style and steel; now they need to produce consistently in order to do themselves justice.
TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Hannah Hutchison, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Carla Novakovic, Liz Kriebel, Emily Bashford, Giulia Clini, Emily Coulson, Ella Dodd (1). Subs: Ale Fairn (1), Amy Hallett. Penalty shootout scorers: Kriebel, Dodd, Coulson, Clini, Rudkin.
Thanks to Catherine for the photos. Here's more:
Love the write up Gary! What a fun match to watch!
ReplyDelete