In the circumstances, then, Teddington needed a fillip, and they got it against Crystal Palace Blues. Promoted last season, Palace’s second string have struggled to 11 consecutive losses, and could have done without starting this game a girl short while a delayed carful found the ground. But they possess some good players, are well-organised and could spring a surprise on the unwary.
The home side approached the game in the right fashion. Seeking to compress the game, Palace played a well-drilled but extravagantly high offside trap, and Teddington took their time to work it out – although they could have gone ahead in the fourth minute if centre-forward Ella Bothamley – starting in the absence of injured Ale Fairn, but herself perhaps feeling the effects of missing Friday’s training with a cold – had been more effective in reaching Ella Dodd’s through-ball.
Palace’s missing players arrived after 20 minutes of Teddington alternating between creating chances and getting carelessly caught offside. Sadly for the delayed visitors, they arrived just in time to see the home side solve the puzzle. Amy Hallett, who spent the match expertly defusing Palace attacks and setting Teddington on the front foot, played a peach of a through-ball for Boz. With Palace’s offside trap in tatters somewhere near the halfway line, the striker had a long time to think about it but stayed calm and planted the ball low to the goalkeeper’s right for a lead nobody could call undeserved.
Two minutes later Boz almost doubled the lead in a decidedly less purposeful fashion. Taking a corner short to the ever-alert left-back Saskia Brewster, Boz received the return pass and curled it towards the far post – which the ball promptly hit.
The positive impact of Palace’s fresh legs was outweighed by Teddington’s own rotation. Anna Kauffman had been as dependable as ever, but for the last 10 minutes of the half she was replaced at right-back by Ella Parkinson-Mearns, returning from illness and injury with a typically tenacious show; with Anna away for the Abbey game, Parky will need to be as diligent again. The ever-alert Liz Kriebel came into central midfield for Doddsy, while Emily Bashford replaced Millie MacEacharn on the left.
Meanwhile, Sadie Day – who has perhaps surprised herself with her own determination – suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Phoebe Head. The top scorer was soon in the thick of it, linking well with Boz twice in two minutes. First, a typically dangerous Boz corner fizzed across the six-yard line and Phoebe’s point-blank left-foot effort was instinctively blocked by the goalkeeper; then, striker sent winger running through from deep, but again the goalkeeper did well to parry Phoebe’s high shot.
Teddington ended the half in a flurry of corners, and doubled their lead in injury time when Phoebe’s flag-kick from the right was forced home at the near post by Emily Coulson. This was only her second of the campaign, a surprisingly poor return considering she was last season’s 19-goal top scorer, and has the technical quality to strike the ball from anywhere. But as the management reinforced at half-time, Em is often simply too reluctant to shoot. Always aware of the possibilities of passing and turning her defender inside-out, “Couls” sometimes needs to remember the advice of Bob Paisley: “If you're in the penalty area and don't know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we'll discuss the options later.”
As is sadly traditional, Teddington started the second half a little slowly, standing off in midfield and allowing the visitors their best chance – but the increasingly confident goalkeeper Ruby Rudkin was easily equal to the task.
A Palace goal might have caused some nerves, but with Parky, Sas and Millie Theobald tightening up the defence most of the action was up the other end, where Couls was finding lots of space in the pockets between the lines, and linking up notably well with Phoebe. First the winger found her on the edge of the box, but she dragged her shot just wide; a minute later. Phoebe’s right-wing cross was heading straight for Couls when a pressure defender bundled it in for an own goal – Teddington’s fourth of the season.
That started a glut of three goals in a little over five minutes, all featuring Emily C at some point. Midfield dynamo Carla Novakovic dug in to win the ball in the centre-circle and laid off to Phoebe, who cut back inside and laid a gorgeous left-footed diagonal for Bash to streak onto. The goalkeeper once again got something on the shot but Couls was on hand to mop up and make it 4-0.
Within a couple of minutes, 4-0 became 5-0 – and once again both Emilys were involved. Bash roared down the left and closed in on the goalkeeper, getting a clonk on the leg and tears in her eyes, but she wasn’t going to stop. Again the keeper’s parry was picked up by Couls, and with her view of goal blocked by defenders, she reset it to Boz on the edge of the area to lash home her second of the match.
Clearly enthused, Emily C almost completed her hat-trick but her superb lob was ruled out for yet another offside. Boz didn’t get the chance to complete her own hat-trick: after 52 minutes of hard running up top she was replaced by Doddsy, who presented Palace with a different challenge. At the same time, the quietly excellent Carla was replaced in midfield by Anna, with Parky settling at right-back: to prove the point, she wont ball determinedly, and laid it off to Liz, whose clever ball one more found Bash coming in off the left wing.
Palace now faced a front three of differing styles: the muscular determination of Doddsy flanked by the fearless speed of Bash and the pacy awareness of Phoebe – who, like Emily C, was given some personal coaching to improve her chances in front of goal. At half-time, Pheebs had quietly complained that “I haven’t scored in ages”; 10 minutes after the break, she scorched through but stayed wide instead of heading for goal and getting her body across the trailing defender. A quick word from the sidelines soon sorted this out, and Phoebe was back on the scoresheet. Darting through the inside-right channel, and accompanied by Doddsy and Bash to keep the defence occupied, Pheebs headed for the whites of the posts instead of the bye-line and stroked the ball into the bottom-left corner like the excellent goalscorer she is.
Soon after, the same simple technique worked again. With her final act of a towering performance, Amy – surrounded by bigger opponents, but wiser than all of them and learning all the time – nipped in to win the ball and play a quick 10-yarder to Doddsy, who executed a classic target-man’s lay-off to send Phoebe scuttling past the poor old left-back. Arrowing in from the wing and once again supported by Doddsy and Bash, Phoebe got her body between the ball and the helpless defender, headed straight for goal and calmly found the bottom corner at the near post for 7-0.
That concluded the scoring, but not for want of trying. Liz slalomed through with a great run but couldn’t quite finish it off; Ella Waldron added her usual presence during a late cameo in place of Amy; while Bash’s replacement Macca quickly get herself involved too.
The seven-goal gap was as big as Teddington have achieved since January 2014, but there are more important things than drubbings. Teddington once again shared the action around a squad that is pleasingly deep in talent, but will be precariously thin as the half-term holiday absences bite. And the action wasn’t the only thing shared around: so were the goals. Boz’s brace took her to eight for the season, Emily C’s first league goals of the season are hopefully a sign of things to come, and Phoebe broke a three-month scoring duck with a simple lesson quickly learned. When she made that plaintive half-time point, Pheebs was told that it would come good if she did the right thing. She did and it did. Onwards to new challenges.
TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Amy Hallett, Ella Dodd, Carla Novakovic, Sadie Day, Emily Coulson (2), Millie MacEacharn, Ella Bothamley (2). Subs Ella Parkinson-Mearns, Ella Waldron, Liz Kriebel, Phoebe Head (2), Emily Bashford. +1og
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