Sun 23 Apr: Carshalton Athletic (H) W 1-0 (Game 1)

After playing one game in eight weeks, Teddington faced two in two hours. A combination of Easter, postponements, withdrawals and walkovers had left the diary blank, but with the end of the season approaching and two fixtures still to fulfil against Carshalton, the teams agreed to a double-header: two successive games, each 45 minutes long (to remain within the proscribed FA maximum for the age range), each for three points.

Teddington have done this before, with some success. Last March, squeezing in games before the Florida trip, they took four points off Abbey Rangers, having blown away the Addlestone outfit with three goals in the opening half-hour; the season before, they won one and lost one against title challengers Crystal Palace.

FROM THE ARCHIVE:

22.03.15 Teddington 1-2 Palace
22.03.15 Teddington 2-1 Palace

20.03.16 Teddington 3-1 Abbey
20.03.16 Teddington 1-1 Abbey

This time around, the benefits were clear. If they could record two wins against Carshalton, they would almost certainly confirm a third-placed finish in the league – the highest-ever placement of any Teddington Athletic girls’ team.

Also bright in the mind was the thought of the Surrey League Cup Final, to be played the following Sunday against Maidenhead. The management welcomed the double-header – a chance to prepare the team tactically and also to give each player a good opportunity to stake a claim for a starting place.

The girls had already been told that nobody in a talented squad is a certainty to start the final. That initial XI will be picked not on theoretical ability but on application and effort in the training sessions. So it was that Anna Kauffmann returned at right-back for Amy Hallett, lining up alongside Hannah Hutchison, Millie Theobald and Saskia Brewster in front of Ruby Rudkin.

The sole squad absentee was Marathon-running Carla Novakovic, but that merely gave Teddington the opportunity to honour a legend of the club. Unfortunately unavailable for the cup final, Millie MacEacharn has decided not to continue with the team next season, but this quietly intelligent, fiercely dedicated and impeccably mannered girl will always be welcome at training sessions and squad gatherings. Here, she took not only Carla’s place in defensive midfield but also the captain’s armband, and typically led by fine example, tracking around diligently and showing no little ability on the ball.

Arranged in front of Macca and Liz Kriebel were Emily Coulson, Ella Dodd, Giulia Clini and Sadie Day. The latter, another ever-present at the various training sessions held over the past fortnight, represented a clear threat to Carshalton in the early exchanges with her pace and direct running.

It was however from the other side that Teddington might have gone ahead within two minutes. Displaying excellent pivot work up top, Doddsy held off her defender and released Em down the left; striding into the area, the record goalscorer hit the target but her shot had neither the power nor the accuracy to beat the goalkeeper.

That would become something of a theme for Teddington: not taking chances. It’s hardly the worst problem, but it’s one that they were clearly told could haunt them against a strong Maidenhead team who might limit opportunities. Here, the home team continued to press: winning the ball from a goal-kick, they worked it well to Liz, scuttling down towards the right-wing corner flag. Her pull-back found Doddsy at the near post and although the shot was worrying enough to elicit a scream from a defender, it was saveable enough to be grasped by the goalkeeper.

That situation would be changed by a substitute. After Sadie spent 24 minutes running herself into the ground, she was replaced by Ella Bothamley, who took just three minutes to open the scoring.

Boz would be quick to point out the good work done by her team-mates. Down the left, Teddington’s triangles between Emily, Macca and Saskia had been pinning the visitors in; when Doddsy received the ball at the bye-line corner of the box, most expected her to recycle through those team-mates. Instead, she suddenly turned inside her defender and laid a gimme across the six-yard box for Boz to finish at the back post.

That might have been the first of many – for Boz alone. Two minutes later, Em’s lovely trickery on the left (after a right-wing corner) set up the right-winger coming through the inside-right channel, but she lifted it over the bar as well as the goalkeeper. Then Doddsy did well to turn inside and find Boz who couldn’t quite finish; then Em’s looping pass from 25 yards fell for a slightly surprised but unmarked Boz who couldn’t capitalise; then she was sent straight through but put it straight at the goalkeeper. In her first eight minutes of action, she could quite conceivably have scored five as Carshalton struggled to live with her.

As it was, the score stayed at 1-0. The players on the pitch were given more minutes on the pitch than expected, as the other three substitutes displayed a lack of application in their warm-up. The participants got more practice, the subs learnt a lesson, and Teddington won the points.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Hannah Hutchison, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Liz Kriebel, Millie MacEacharn, Sadie Day (sub Ella Bothamley 1g), Giulia Clini, Emily Coulson, Ella Dodd. Subs unused: Ale Fairn, Emily Bashford, Amy Hallett.