Wimbledon are the closest thing Teddington have to a bogey team, having won the first nine clashes between the sides. Run professionally, with two 90-minute training sessions per week, the Dons are an elite club who have won the league in two of the last three seasons; last year, the only points they dropped before the final weekend were in a 1-1 draw at Teddington.
Still, the home side had hope for a number of reasons: that battling draw last autumn, their own improved showing in the previous game against Abbey Rangers, and a relatively indifferent start to the Dons’ season which has been put down to a desire to develop the players. That’s something Teddington have always aimed to do, and it’s allowed them to create players with a flexibility which is desirable in theory and essential with a squad high on quality but low on quantity.
For the five games so far this season, Teddington have had 12, 11, 12, 11 and now 12 players available, as the young women balance their various commitments. This time, the absentees were Ruby Rudkin, Sarah Dillamore and Annabel Taiwo; the latter is a new signing who has previously played as a forward but is now, in typical Teddington style, retraining as a defender.
The back-line has taken the brunt of the enforced reshuffles so far this season: five games, four different defences, eight different defenders. Against the Dons, and in front of stand-in goalkeeper Jen Neves, Millie Theobald was partnered at centre-back by Amy Hallett; the youngster reverted inside from right-back after claiming during training that she was better in defence than further forward. Although it’s a curious claim from a brilliant all-rounder with 21 goals to her name, it may have been rooted in an entirely unnecessary modesty about her attacking ability.
Saskia Brewster made a very welcome return at left-back; she won’t be available for every game, or even most of them, but she looked as impressive as ever and shook off any rustiness with a typically intelligent performance. Her reappearance meant the coaches asked Frances Clark to switch to right-back; the fleet-footed Fran had some slight reservations, although again these were perhaps due to a lack of self-confidence: she admitted she may be slightly stronger with her right footed than her left.
Other than that, the team more or less picked itself, although there was a tactical tweak with Giulia Clini asked to drop slightly deeper than usual in a bid to control midfield. As ever, she obliged with a battling performance.
The visitors had the ball in the net within four minutes, but the flag was up; it’s possible that not all three of the forwards were offside, but the referee trusted his linesman, and would continue to do so throughout the game.
Teddington’s reshuffled defence almost get itself in trouble when Millie curiously opted not to pass back to Jen, whose great ball control allows her to operatte as a sweeper-keeper or fifth defender. Instead, Millie tried to find her old mate Sas but the Dons pinched the ball and forced Jen into the save. From that point on, Jen’s defenders were much happier to pass back to her, and she obliged with almost faultless distribution.
Ten minutes in, Teddington had their first shot in anger. Encouragingly, it came from Fran; she had been overlapping into the attack when she was bundled over, and when Ella Bothamley’s free-kick was half-cleared Fran pounced to shoot, but the goalkeeper was able to deal with it.
In truth, the first half-hour of the game featured few chances as the teams battled in midfield: Teddington may have shaded possession, Wimbledon offering slightly more penetration. But on 25 minutes the home side’s fizzing first-time football almost opened the scoring. Amy started the move, dispossessing a striker then finding Boz wide right; her first-time lob sent Ella Dodd menacingly through toward goal, but her brave first-time shot from the penalty arc dragged just wide.
Although she had turned up early for the game and wanted to impress against her former team, Boz had struggled to get into the game and was upset with her own performance when withdrawn on 33 minutes. Counselled by her manager, Boz was assured that she still had a big part to play, but the vice-captain needs to react more proactively to adversity – to do the next thing right, as the Teddington mantra goes. A fine player and the team’s top scorer this season, she is capable of beating any defender if she can beat her own self-doubt.
Perhaps she can learn from her replacement Emily Bashford – a superb option for any manager, capable of playing across the backline, on either wing or up front. Moreover, while Bash may not be confident in her own abilities, she has a steely will which never lets her give anything less than her all: if you knock her down, she gets up stronger.
Meanwhile Teddington were doing their own knocking down, on the edge of their box. The hastily-erected wall was bypassed by the shot, but Jen leapt to gather. Moments later she did even better when the Dons’ left-winger cut inside and sent a shot arrowing toward the far top corner; arcing across to flick it wide, jen thoroughly deserved the loudest crowd reaction of the morning.
Not that it was one-way stuff. In between those two chances, Doddsy had found herself crowded out from the chance to hit a right-foot shot, so she simply switched to shoot with her left - a pleasing sign of her increasing self-confidence, and quite rightly so.
Just before half-time, Teddington came frustratingly close to taking the lead. Again getting involved in the attack, Fran let fly from 30 yards: the shot wriggled under the goalkeeper’s body and through her legs, but dribbled agonisingly wide. From the corner, Sas – having politely enquired if her presence was required further forward – added another body to the attack; eventually the ball fell to her but the shot was, by her own half-time admission, not one to worry the goalkeeper. Even so, within a minute of each other both full-backs had forced shots on target, an endorsement of the coaches’ encouragement to join in with attacks.
However, after the break the defenders’ attention would revert to matters of urgency at the back. Immediately after the restart the Dons attacked down their right wing, to which various Teddington players reacted with more curiosity than determination. The cross was headed wide, but the lesson was not learnt and a minute later Wimbledon went in front with a similar move.
This time the cross went to the near post; so did the striker, and so did a defender, but with much less conviction, and the cross was converted emphatically past the blameless Jen. It set a precedent: all three of Wimbledon’s goals could be ascribed to a relative lack of physicality. In other words, Teddington were outmuscled.
The home side didn’t surrender, though. On the contrary, led by ever-ready captain Carla Novakovic they sought to respond in kind, and three minutes after half-time there was all sorts of bother in the Dons box with Doddsy, Fran and Emily Coulson all having efforts which weren’t dealt with at all confidently by the visitors. From the resultant corner, Doddsy met Liz Kriebel’s centre excellently but stabbed it wide of the near post.
Not long after, Bash flew down the right wing and attracted three defenders; her clipped centre cleared them all, but also bypassed Doddsy, and although the goalkeeper fumbled Emily wasn’t on hand to profit.
Back came Wimbledon, sweeping down the other end of the pitch but Millie T did superbly to deflect the shot wide for a corner. Building again from the right, the Dons couldn’t get past a combination of Sas and Amy, while Sas stood big at the near post to head away the corner.
If Teddington were resolute against Wimbledon’s efforts, they were sadly undone by their own profligacy. On 51 minutes, in accordance with the home side’s ever-present desire to build from the back, Jen tapped the ball to Fran - but with neither looking confident in possession, the underhit return ball was intercepted, centred and converted.
The home side played their cards and did their best. Boz returned for Emily, with the impressive Bash switching left. With little to lose, the coaches considered switching to a back three but instead opted for a back two, pushing both full-backs right up into midfield. Rarely one to shrink in battle, Doddsy fashioned her own chance by flicking the ball over a defender in a manner reminiscent of Frank Worthington or Dennis Bergkamp, except that the goalkeeper was sharp off her line to close down.
With six minutes remaining and Teddington now playing something like a 2-3-5 formation, Wimbledon scored a third which synthesised the previous two: overly tentative passing in defence, outmuscling, interception, conversion. Intriguingly, the referee later revealed that he thought the first and third goals may have been offside but Wimbledon were simply more willing to be physical.
That’s not to say Teddington shrank from the fight: in what was another encouraging overall display, several players gave their all. Deployed deeper than usual, Giulia excelled again – just as she had in the centre of the 3-4-3 formation against Maidenhead – and was eventually given the last five minutes off with Emily rejoining the fray. Manager Dave Waldron later noted that ‘Jools’ was only pipped for Player of the Match by Amy Hallett.
Amy is a typical Teddington player: much admired, fantastically able, surprisingly tough, pleasingly adaptable… and for whatever reason, somewhat lacking in confidence. These girls are capable of being brilliant players, but they don’t seem to know how good they are, no matter how much their coaches tell them. Hopefully, if that confidence and self-assurance can’t come from within, hopefully it will come from improving results, because it would be a crying shame if this thoroughly wonderful group of players never quite realised how good they are.
TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC: Jen Neves, Fran Clark, Amy Hallett, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Liz Kriebel, Carla Novakovic, Giulia Clini, Ella Bothamley, Emily Coulson, Ella Dodd. Sub: Emily Bashford.
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