Sun 30 Oct: Milford Pumas (H) W 6-1

On the day before Halloween, Teddington confronted some of their own ghouls. This team has talent in abundance, sometimes let down by a lack of application. When they sit back, they can get spooked, but when they’re on the front foot, they can terrify most opposition. So it was here, but only after a scare or two.

The visitors to Udney Park on a moist first morning of winter were Milford Pumas, a curate’s egg of a team whose six First Division games had yielded two wins and three defeats, 20 goals scored and 18 conceded.

With Amy Hallett, Saskia Brewster and Ella Bothamley away, Teddington made changes. Millie MacEacharn, so diligent at right-back against Wimbledon, switched left to cover Sas; Anna Kauffmann returned on the right, with Millie Theobald and Hannah Hutchison continuing their centre-back partnership. Carla Novakovic rejoined Liz Kriebel in patrolling midfield behind the returning Giulia Clini, Emily Coulson reverting to the left side with Sadie Day starting on the right; Ale Fairn started up top, with Ella Dodd joining Emily Bashford on the bench.

As a deliberate ploy to help these growing young women sort out their own decisions, the Teddington coaches started the match quietly. So did the Teddington players. It took seven minutes for the first spark of life: Liz chasing a ball down to the right corner flag, her cross picking out Ale’s good diagonal run across the defender to the front post, but the striker’s mid-air flick went just wide of the post.

That prompted a flurry of half-attempts, with Em’s ambitious left-foot effort from distance followed by Liz again ghosting past a defender and shooting wide. Milford replied by breaking through a somewhat under-organised Teddington backline; Ruby Rudkin was quick off her line to intercept. It wouldn’t be the last such incident the goalkeeper, thoroughly rested after a 12-hour kip following a Friday night flight home, would have to get involved in.

Up the other end, Teddington were probing the Pumas. Bustling down the left in the 14th minute, Em pulled back for the supporting Carla; her cross bypassed Ale for a Liz snapshot from the edge, just over the bar.

A minute later, from more or less the same spot, Teddington took the lead with a good team goal. Liz pressed the issue from midfield and crossed for Ale; the ball was a bit behind the striker but she had the vision and support to calmly set up for Giulia, lurking behind her in the penalty arc, to equally calmly side-foot into the bottom-left corner.

Going a goal up helped the team to relax. Sadie looked increasingly confident, frequently putting her foot on the ball to assess her options. Coffee began to enjoy the freedom to push on afforded to the full-backs by Teddington’s new system. In the middle, Liz was winning her one-on-ones and starting to boss the game; one through-ball sent Ale through, with the goalkeeper relieved to grab her clever early lob.

But there is a balance to be struck with being relaxed. One Milford knock over the top caught Hutch, usually dominant, on her heels; Ruby again had to come out and mop up, forcing the striker into a first-time effort the goalie saved with her midriff. Then just after the half-hour, Teddington overplayed a little in the wrong area.

In fairness, Liz probably had the right idea in mind by recycling backwards to Macca, but the Milford trio who had put the midfielder under pressure merely sprinted on to harass the left-back and dispossess her. Again, Ruby came out to do the sweeper-keeper job to which she is adapting impressively well, but on this occasion the striker got there first and Ruby caught her with a tackle. A stricter referee might have called that a last-man foul, although it seemed far from malicious, and a footballing punishment was meted out as the surefooted No.15 sent the free-kick sailing superbly into the roof of the net.

Milford’s delight – and Teddington’s surprise – at the equaliser could have caused a difficult last 10 minutes of the half. As it was, the home side threatened, but only sporadically, and trooped in at half-time somewhat wary of the expected telling-off.

Instead, the girls were calmly reminded that they simply needed to force the issue by working a bit harder for each other: being first to the ball, having the courage to win their one-v-ones. That commenced within 30 seconds of the restart, helped by two superb subs keen to make their own point.

A lovely self-effacing character, Emily Bashford is more aware of her limitations than her capabilities; the same cannot be said for the full-backs she terrorises. Right from the whistle she tore down the right wing, into the box for a physical confrontation with the left-back; the ball bounced clear to Doddsy, whose quickfire shot forced the goalkeeper to push wide for the first of what might have been a dozen corners in the second period.

Another genuine pleasure to coach, Doddsy was involved again a minute later, running onto Liz’s alley-ball behind the left-back to shoot across the face of goal. Four corners in four minutes later, the goalkeeper again kept Milford level with a point-blank save from Giulia.

However, Giulia would again get the better of the netter when Teddington made the breakthrough after 12 minutes of relentless pressure. Winning the ball in the centre circle, Hutch spread the ball wide right to Bash. Most girls wouldn’t have got there but Bash did, not just stopping the ball on the touchline but crossing to Giulia, who from 15 yards again picked out the bottom-left corner.

Even when Milford got as far as the Teddington back line, they were seconds from danger. Millie T snuffing out a putative attack in the centre-circle allowed Liz to collect the ball and find Doddsy with a deft daisy-cutting vertical; the centre-forward superbly flicked round the corner for Bash to run on to, shooting from the edge and forcing the goalkeeper to concede yet another corner.

The only surprise was that it took until the 65th minute for Teddington to open up clear water on the scoresheet. Scoring with a technically excellent shot from the edge of the box, Liz had been picked out gorgeously by Em, who worked hard down by left corner flag, looked up, had the vision and ability to lay the ball back to the amiable American.

That gave Teddington a two-goal cushion but they weren’t sitting back on it, so three minutes later 3-1 became 4-1. Anna and Liz calmly worked triangles down right before the Dane sent the American clear to cross for Emily, who expertly timed her run to the middle of the six-yard box and calmly volleyed home. That makes it seven goals in seven games, more than she managed in last season’s 18 appearances. She’s also scored in five of the last six fixtures, which is no bad habit to have – and the reason she is now Teddington’s all-time leading scorer, her 53rd club goal taking her clear of Phoebe Head (who sat in civvies on the bench, cheering on her friends).

It’s to Milford’s great credit that they didn’t give up, with Ruby involved twice in a minute – smothering one shot before pawing one way from danger. The second-tier team have some good players, confident on the ball, and play the game in the right fashion.

They don’t have Carla Novakovic, though, and in the 74th minute the skipper did something she hadn’t done in 30 games since March 2015: she scored. Harrying the visitors all the way into the area, she didn’t hang about when the ball popped up 12 yards out, lashing it home left-footed before celebrating with what can only be described as a smiling version of a shrug emoji – head cocked to one side, palms upturned, innocent face saying “Who, me?”

Ale and Sadie were given another run-out, replacing Em and Giulia with Bash going left and Doddsy into advanced midfield – but it was Liz who had the last word, driving a left-footer across the goalkeeper with two minutes remaining. That was harsh on Milford, who didn’t deserve a 6-1 loss, but Teddington simply cruised past them in the second half. As Milford coach Lee was heard to say admiringly to one of his charges, “these girls are a different kettle of fish to what you get in our division”.

They’re also a different team to last year’s TAFC. They have their problems, namely an occasional lack of application, but they have conceded fewer goals than after the same number of games last term. At the other end, they’re regularly showing they are capable of thrilling combination attacking play. They are also sharing the goals around more: four different girls have scored at least three goals (and had she been available against Milford, Boz would quite possibly have joined them), whereas last season only Phoebe, Ale and Boz had got more than one.

They will face harder tasks than this. Up next is Abbey Rangers, who beat them on the opening day, and who will doubtless threaten from well-drilled set-pieces. But if Teddington continue to stay on the front foot, they can put the frighteners on any team from Halloween to May Day.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Hannah Hutchison, Millie Theobald, Millie MacEacharn, Liz Kriebel (2), Carla Novakovic (1), Sadie Day, Giulia Clini (2), Emily Coulson (1), Ale Fairn. Subs: Emily Bashford, Ella Dodd
Thanks to David Theobald and Catherine Clini for images

Bondy's notes from Milford Pumas

Cup games are all about making sure your name is in the draw for the next round. Job done! In the quarter-final we travel to Fleet.

I felt it was a good first half in possession – we were in control and dangerous going forward. Other pleasing positives included players getting their chance and really impressing. Defensively I felt we lost our shape at times and perhaps could have been stronger in tackle or quicker to react to the second ball.

I would have liked to see us press the ball at the right time – if you press when the opposition player already has control, teams can play around you. Press in numbers, when the ball is travelling or on a bad touch.    

We discussed at half-time what we needed to take complete control: a much more energetic tempo, a better passing completion rate, to defend as a unit, to press at the right times, to win the ball back quicker, to win more second balls and to keep our shape rather than players coming out of position leaving gaps.

Two words describe the second half: WORLD CLASS. But it's about time, I hope you all agree. We have seen glimpses of how good we are. I know the second-half display at AFC Wimbledon was extremely good, but Sunday’s second 40 minutes was world class: from defence to offence, everything we discussed the players delivered.

This Sunday we host Abbey Rangers. On the opening day of the season, the better team lost: we got punished for not taking our chances. I will remind the players of how world-class they were last week. We look now to build, and I hope that we continue and play like we did for the full 80+ minutes. If we can now be consistent, like I keep saying we will prove that we really are the best team in this league. I for one know we are, I just now need the players to build on what was a special second-half performance.

- Bondy

Sun 16 Oct: Maidenhead (H) L 3-6

The forecast was for heavy weather, and while the Met in Met Office doesn’t stand for “metaphor”, they picked a suitable image for a miserable morning which left Teddington shivering and vulnerable.

With Anna Kauffmann, Giulia Clini and Ale Fairn unavailable, Teddington’s coaches were down to 13 but still had to make tough decisions: with so many squad members capable of playing in so many positions. In the end, captain Carla Novakovic slotted into right-back, with Amy Hallett back in her deep midfield role. Emily Coulson slipped inside to replace Giulia, with Emily Bashford’s ever-increasing confidence allowing her to start a game for the first time since March.

Maidenhead, second in the league having beaten everybody but Wimbledon, started the stronger, breaking the offside trap twice in the first five minutes. In the first instance Saskia Brewster – playing despite ongoing ankle trouble, which will hopefully heal over the coming fortnight sprinted back superbly to dispossess the striker. In the second, Ruby Rudkin slipped but recovered, sprang up and did enough to terrify the striker into insignificance.

If Ruby was literally “up and at ‘em” at the back, so was Ella Dodd up the sharp end. Maidenhead were playing a back three built around Zuri, the tall accomplished centre-back who usually looks so accomplished on the ball – but from a goal-kick Doddsy closed her down, dispossessed her, broke into the right-hand side of the area and smashed it high past the advancing goalkeeper. Seven minutes gone, 1-0.

Doddsy’s dogged front-running was pulling the Maidenhead trio hither and yon, giving her team-mates good options. When Bash got the ball on halfway, she had the awareness to spot Doddsy’s diagonal run, the confidence to calculate the pass and the ability to complete it.

Still the visitors threatened the breakthrough. Happy to pass around in clever midfield triangles but always seeking the chance to get in behind, they had Ruby haring out to the edge of her area, then pushing wide a 20-yard snapshot. The goalkeeper who had looked somewhat ill before the game now looked more at ease and in her element.

In the 19th minute a superb corner at the second attempt from Ella Bothamley – frustratedly peripheral thus far – almost fell for Doddsy on the six-yard line. Maidenhead countered but Amy zoomed brilliantly across, showing awareness, pace and strength to close down the problem, find a team-mate and launch a counter-counter as Boz flew down the right and set up Doddsy for another shot saved.

Amy’s interception typified Teddington’s first half. Maidenhead may have had more of the ball but the home side were constantly disrupting their midfield triangles. Not only were Amy and Liz Kriebel diligently digging in, but Bash and Boz were tracking their wingbacks, while Emily was also working back from the front of the central triumvirate. The end result was that Teddington effectively had five across midfield, matching Maidenhead’s 3-5-2 and leaving the home side with two spare players.

Knowing that the ball can move faster than the player, the visitors insistently tested Teddington’s high line with through-balls, which usually resulted in correct offside calls as a well-drilled offside trap worked on several occasions. Then, in the 34th minute, it suddenly didn’t.

One of Teddington’s most reliable players, Saskia had been as efficient as ever, and had dropped back five yards to cover Millie MacEacharn – who had just come on for a well-deserved run-out while Bash had an equally well-deserved break. Trouble is, she was still five yards behind her team-mates as the latest Maidenhead through-ball whizzed past, allowing the striker to poke past Ruby. Chalk that one up to a lack of awareness and communication among Teddington’s still-quiet defence.

On the balance of play, Maidenhead may have deserved an equaliser but the home side didn’t buckle… yet. Three minutes after the goal, an Emily snapshot from 25 yards slipped through the goalkeeper’s sodden gloves but not quite over the line. Then Boz drove down the right and won a corner, which she put onto Em’s boot for a tucked six-yard volley almost identical to the one at Wimbledon the previous week.

So Teddington were back in front, and with the wind in their favour in the second half, although they were warned that Maidenhead’s balls over the top might therefore hold up obligingly for the visitors. As it turned out, that wasn’t the main threat Teddington faced in the second period; of the five goals Maidenhead would score, only one was from a through-ball, and not particularly lengthy at that. The visitors discovered that they didn’t need to bypass a defensive unit they could simply amble through.

The first goal came after five minutes, with Teddington caught in possession in defensive midfield. The second came five minutes later, when a ball in from the right bobbled past several static home players to a much livelier striker who finished past Ruby with the outside of her right foot. The third was another simple through-ball past a Teddington team by now resembling a Greek pantheon of statues. The fourth was a penalty after Carla, under pressure from her own team’s goal-kick, was adjudged to have fouled the attacker in the area.

Teddington had collapsed like a cheap deckchair, conceding four in 12 minutes to a merry Maidenhead team who couldn’t quite believe the extent to which their opponents had simply melted away.

At 5-2 up, the visitors eased off somewhat, and so did the rain. Boz came back on for Sadie, who had replaced her at half-time but struggled with a combination of illness and disappearing team-mates. Macca, too, made way for Bash while not quite believing what had happened while she was out there. It can’t all be Jelly’s fault for turning up when the team was winning 2-1.

With six minutes to go, Teddington pulled a goal back when Boz hammered a fierce right-footer into top corner from an acute angle. It had come about by pressing hard and high then finding each other well – Em, Liz and Boz linking well and working the triangles.

It made the scoreline look a little less ugly and could have been the springboard for a spirited comeback, but three minutes later it was 6-3 as Maidenhead simply ambled through the defence. The right-sider walked – not danced, not sprinted – past four or five half-hearted attempts at tackles before finding the striker to plant past Ruby.

And so Teddington equalled their own record for the heaviest concession in the team’s history, equalling the half-dozen shipped to AFC Wimbledon back in their first season and Abbey on the opening day of 2015/16. It could have been worse: on separate occasions, Sas and Carla had each darted around the back of their defensive partners to eventually snuff out dangerous runs from the visitors, while Ruby had pulled off a couple of second-half saves.

Maidenhead are a decent team, a nice bunch of girls managed by a good man, but they’re far from world-beaters: there’s no specific player to fear, or undefendable pattern of play. After being largely closed out in the first half, they were notably stronger after the break: Pat had them in for two months of preseason training, and their superior fitness told in the second half as they eased past a heavy-legged home team – several of whom didn’t look like they had done much about their manager’s pleas to work on their endurance over summer by going on regular runs.

Fitness might have helped, but so might mental strength. There was much post-match talk among the coaches of formations and personnel, but while Player X might have done better in Position Y, no starting tactic or star-studded squad could possibly matter when players are allowed to walk through five or six static players – and then allowed to do it again, lesson unlearned.

Teddington have come a long way, and are playing arguably their best attacking football despite having lost two of their all-time top goalscorers. But all that can be undermined by a lack of discipline and desire among the defensive unit – which includes the midfielders and goalkeeper. Before the next fixture, a cup game against Milford Pumas for which the coaches will scrape together whatever players aren't away on holiday, Teddington face a fortnight of examining the past and planning for the future. Up next after Milford are Abbey Rangers and Wimbledon.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Carla Novakovic, Hannah Hutchison, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Amy Hallett, Liz Kriebel, Ella Bothamley (1), Emily Coulson (1), Emily Bashford, Ella Dodd (1). Subs Millie MacEacharn, Sadie Day

Bondy's notes from Maidenhead

Your motivation belongs to yourself. When a coach is motivating players that coach is just giving a little extra. Good players are already motivated. The coach is just an extra source of supportive motivation. If a coach has to motivate you fully the coach then becomes more than an extra source.

Its about yourself. You can not wait for people to motivate you or do the work for you. You have to find it in yourself. What ever it is. Do it. It belongs to you.

You analyse your performance in practice and on game day. Most importantly be honest with yourself. Don't be afraid to tell yourself “I gave it my best,” but some times you need to admit you could have done more. Find a way; seek advice on HOW WHY WHEN WHERE you could have given that extra. Don't wait for people to praise you or criticise you. Be The Best You Can. Say to yourself everyday: I am the best; I will work hard to be better than the best; I will become greater.

The right people around you will give you the little extra source of motivation. By choosing the right people you are already motivated and have taken responsibility.

As a coach I’m always analysing my performance – Did they learn? Are they better players leaving practice than when they arrived? Do they have a better understanding? I look at how, what, where and why I could develop. The better a coach I become, the better I can develop the players I coach.

I'm often asked ‘What motivates you as a coach?”. The answer is to be given the opportunity to develop young people to become better footballers, and in some cases better people. My desire to coach players and teach life skills is seen in the pride I take in each session. The biggest advice I can give is: love what you do, take pride in what you do. If you can do that you will become motivated. Could be a work of art, a project, homework. Take pride and enjoy doing it.

The Game: 
A perfect first-half performance but we must admit and learn that the second half was not good enough. On Friday we will work hard and put Sunday's second half behind us. I know one thing is for sure: the players will be determined to put things right. I am super excited for our next game at home, the place of the beautiful game,  a cup tie and with a point to prove I’m sure that we will be back at our best.

– Bondy