This double-header – two games of 40 minutes each, hitting the FA-proscribed maximum for girls of this age – against Abbey Rangers was perfectly timed, with the team coming into form and preparing to leave on Thursday for the tour to Tampa. Friday’s training was good and the warm-up was excellent; would the good vibes continue?
Abbey had a warning in the third minute when Jelly won the ball in defence and found her friend Phoebe. Beating the left-back, Pheebs sent a clever little alley-ball for Boz, but the goalkeeper was out quickly to the edge of her area.
It was only a temporary reprieve. Teddington were penning the visitors in, with Amy floating in defensive midfield to recycle clearances, and then in the sixth minute Doddsy took a more direct route. Getting a clearance flush in the face, she nonetheless chased down the rebound and played a 10-yard diagonal to Phoebe, who picked out the back post. The cross bypassed Boz but Emily C had enough time time to steady herself and sidefoot home.
When talk in Friday’s team meeting turned to the opening-day defeat at Abbey, EC had asked “did I score?” She was told that no, she hadn’t, but she was welcome to do so this time.
Five minutes later, she did it again. Teddington had continued to keep Abbey in their own third, with throw-ins and then a corner; when Phoebe’s flag-kick from the left was partially blocked – effectively flicked on – by the first defender, EC was again in the right place to nod in.
It’s worth noting here that Abbey Rangers aren’t usually the kind of team to go two goals down by ten past kick-off. In fact, besides their only two league defeats of the season (to runaway leaders Crystal Palace), they’d only conceded two goals twice since September, and one of those was in a 5-2 win. By the 18th minute Rangers were coming back into the game, but that merely allowed Teddington to counter-attack – again through Jelly intercepting a through-ball and feeding Phoebe, who cut inside and brought a reflex save down at the near post.
It was a slick move, a stinging shot and a smart save, but the glove-wearer – so impressive in that opening-day game – could do absolutely nothing to prevent Teddington going 3-0 up from the resultant corner, Phoebe’s cross being met on the six-yard line by Emily C, powering it home like a 1970s centre-forward.
Turns out that the night before, Em had roped her dad into helping her practise headers, despite Richie’s protestation that “we haven’t scored a header in two years”. His daughter had now scored two in 10 minutes, to complete her hat-trick and bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “double header”. There’s a moral in there somewhere. Teddington weren’t letting up, and Jelly almost got in on the goalscoring act, arriving late through the inside-right channel at a pulled-back corner, but her first-timer from the edge of the box fizzed just wide of the far post.
Ringing the changes, the home side gave the excellent Doddsy – one of several girls clearly benefiting from fitness training, her extra pace over the first few yards visibly improving her self-belief – a rest for Liz, then bringing on Ale and Macca for Boz and Phoebe.
Abbey started to threaten a little more but it’s worth noting that it took half an hour for them to have their first real shot inside the area, turning inside Anna and firing wide of the near post. The Danish girl was otherwise impeccable, often breaking intelligently out of the defensive line to add numbers in midfield – an encouraging habit that she and her fellow full-back Sas will be able to cultivate, given the extra security of a second centre-back.
With Abbey’s through-balls being effectively mopped up, the likeliest source of a goal for the visitors seemed a set-piece, and so it proved in the 32nd minute when a couple of Teddington defenders couldn’t quite sort out their feet to clear a corner. One of them, Sas, was very apologetic afterwards, insisting the goal was her fault, but was told not to worry: just do the next thing right.
And Sas was an integral part of a back-line – an entire team – which treated the rest of the first match is an exercise in game management. Not unlike the second half at Fleet a month previously, Teddington conserved their energy and their lead, conceding possession without conceding too many chances and, crucially, any more goals.
But how would they fare in the second game? Read on to find out...
TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Ella Waldron, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Amy Hallett, Phoebe Head, Ella Dodd, Emily Coulson (3), Carla Novakovic, Ella Bothamley. Subs: Liz Kriebel, Millie MacEacharn, Emily Bashford, Ale Fairn
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