Sun 8 Jan: Fleet Town (H) W 4-0

January can be the graveyard of good intentions. The first month of the calendar year is traditionally the time of hard promises easily made, when people pledge to make themselves better before inexorably slipping back into old ways.

Football teams have it somewhat different. January is not the beginning of the campaign but its midpoint: a crucial fulcrum upon which can rest the trajectory for the second half of the season. A poor January can start a slide into insignificance; a good one can send the team to new heights.

Having ended 2016 with four games unbeaten, Teddington Athletic face four successive challenges to start 2017, three of them at Udney Park. First fourth-placed Fleet Town, then third-placed Abbey Rangers, each opponent overtakable with a win. Abbey will return on January’s final Sunday for the Surrey Cup semi-final, after Dave Waldron’s side travel to Crystal Palace for the sort of game that might trip up any side who treat it with overconfidence. (It’s happened to Teddington before, including at Palace.)

Thankfully, three weeks after beating Palace in the “game of three halves”, Teddington returned to action like a side looking upward rather than down. The absence of Millie Theobald (jet-lagged from a jaunt to Japan) might have necessitated some juggling, but instead of shuffling several players around, the management went for simplicity with a straight swap, replacing Millie with Amy Hallett.

The squad’s youngest player responded with raised eyebrows and genuine surprise, but it’s notable that none of her team-mates were worried. Amy reads the game like a 30-year-old and what she lacks in stature she makes up for in determination. She had never started a game at centre-back, but she’s filled in there before and played in every other outfield position; she has also been a key part of the ongoing training routines bringing a welcome shape and organisation to the back line.

Amy slotted comfortably in to a back four staffed with girls who are increasingly happy to communicate with each other. As usual, Hannah Hutchison was dominant in defence, while full-backs Saskia Brewster and Anna Kauffmann mixed defensive diligence with increasingly creative attacking play.

It helped that the home side went ahead within five minutes, Ella Dodd’s shot from distance arcing beautifully over the goalkeeper for the team’s 300th goal in competitive football. Teddington and Fleet have switched leads many times before but there was a smooth assurance to the way the home side started.

Doddsy settled into leading the line, while behind her Giulia Clini continued where she left off in the cup quarter-final at Fleet, controlling the game with a combination of physical presence and football intelligence exemplified when she extended the lead on the quarter-hour. Teddington having won the ball in midfield, Liz Kriebel’s diagonal sent Ella Bothamley tearing in from the right wing; the full-back gamely tracked her but also inadvertently interfered with her goalkeeper’s clearance, which dropped to Giulia 25 yards out – and her quick, calm lob was too strong for the keeper to collect.

Teddington weren’t flattered by the two-goal cushion, which might have arrived sooner. Having been inches from connecting with a dangerous Boz corner, Emily Coulson took a more relaxed approach to her next chance, flicking up and volleying just wide of the far post; a minute later that same post was narrowly missed by Boz’s wafted shot from the angle as Giulia and Liz directed traffic, pinning the visitors into their own third.

Having waited 10 dominant minutes to double their lead, Teddington took just three to score again. Even then, they almost scored before that. In the 17th minute Doddsy’s lay-off set up Boz – searching for her fourth goal in her last four games – to send one arrowing toward the top corner; the goalkeeper did well to push the shot onto the angle of post and bar and was delighted to catch the rebound ahead of the lurking Doddsy.

The reprieve lasted barely 60 seconds as Boz hit the byline and pulled back for the unmarked Doddsy to sidefoot home her second of the morning, her sixth in four games and her 10th of the season. And for that, this reporter will forgive her part in stealing the chocolates he was supposed to be given for Christmas (suspected criminal ring-leader: Carla Novakovic).

Let it not be assumed that Fleet were dormant. Even after going 3-0 down they served immediate notice of their ability by breaking through the Teddington back line and shooting into Ruby Rudkin’s side-netting. But Teddington’s offside trap was working well, and even when it didn’t, the defence dug back to deal with it: within three minutes each of Amy, Hannah and Anna took it in turns to break up attacks by getting back and getting their bodies in the way. 

Such was the home side’s spirit that Fleet couldn’t find space anywhere. As the visitors lined up to take a throw, the taker exasperatedly shouted “Girls, MOVE” – but Teddington were everywhere, shutting the visitors down.

They were also pretty handy with the ball, too, and weren’t settlng for 3-0. One passing move flowed through Emily and Giulia to Liz, who dropped her shoulder to find space for a 25-yard shot the keeper did well to save.

That was the American’s last involvement before gasping off the pitch just beyond the half-hour, admitting she’s out of shape but noting that she had “assisted the assist” for each of the three goals. On came Millie MacEacharn, quickly followed by Emily Bashford and Ale Fairn for Boz and Doddsy, but not before the latter had flashed a header just wide from a Giulia free-kick.

Giulia was involved again in the fourth and final goal, 12 minutes into the second half. It exemplified the various parts of the team doing their jobs with verve and determination. Firstly, in the muck and bullets of the centre circle, Carla dug in to win the ball. She quickly found Giulia, who drove toward the heart of the Fleet defence, then cleverly slipped in Ale, who ran through on goal and calmly clipped past the goalkeeper with the outside of her right foot.

Having bagged the vital equaliser in Hampshire, Fleet-frightening forward Fairn has now scored two in three games after her desperate run of one in the previous 18. Form is temporary but class is permanent, and Ale has shown a very welcome return to the levels she has more often demonstrated over her four seasons at the club: this was her 27th goal in 56 career appearances, drawing her back level in the all-time scoring charts with Doddsy. Having two strikers in goalscoring form is no bad thing, especially with the creative department bubbling behind them: in the last three home games Teddington have piled up 14 goals from seven different players.

The defence do their job, too. On 55 minutes a ball over the top of the Teddington backline held up on the sticky pitch, but Ruby sprinted out of her area and did enough to put the striker off. There were many examples of this: not necessarily cleanly winning tackles or duels but doing enough to make sure the opponent didn’t, either. It’s a happy habit to have.

Fleet played a noticeably higher line in the second half, trying to compress the play, but that merely created space behind for Teddington’s faster players to exploit. On the hour Saskia joined in, bursting down the left wing and cutting inside for a solid shot well saved by the goalkeeper. Like her fellow defenders Millie, Hannah and Anna, Sas is still awaiting her first-ever Teddington goal but it will surely come if her overloads add to the attacking array.

Also tearing into space, on the other side, was Bash. Two minutes after Sas’s chance the flying winger hunted down her left-back, dispossessed her on the byline and wriggled into the box; having created the chance herself, she was entitled to ignore the well-placed Ale and Macca and shoot for the near top corner, which she was within a foot of finding.

Still Teddington’s rearguard kept their concentration. When another ball over the top tempted Ruby out of her box but the striker got there first to poke it past her, a consolation goal seemed inevitable – but Hutch continued to pelt back and cover the goal-line, while Ruby did a sharp 180-degree turn and hared back home. To good effect: the striker’s touch had forced her wide, and by the time she got her shot off Ruby was able to smother. By such means were Teddington able to keep their first clean sheet in nine games, and their first in 13 attempts against teams who habitually win more than they lose.

By now the subs were itching to get back on, but the coaches were struggling to select players to sacrifice. Ale was visibly buzzing up top; Giulia was at the hub of every move; Bash was continuing her campaign of terrorising full-backs; Emily and Carla combined minding the shop with starting the moves. And out on the left, Macca was displaying some of the most confident touches of her career – first calmly chesting the ball to a teammate Ronaldinho-style, then executing a stupendous back-heel down the line to Saskia behind her.

As it was, Liz replaced Emily, who had played well in two positions; Doddsy came on for Giulia, playing behind a resurgent Ale; and Macca enjoyed a fully-deserved round of applause almost as much as she enjoyed her replacement Boz jokingly refusing to shake her hand on the way off.
Boz it was who almost had the final word, racing in from the left to a lovely Bash dink over the top but firing just wide of the far stick. Boz would end the game without a goal – only the second time in six that’s happened – but she had contributed fully with two assists, and she will doubtless be looking to strike next week against Abbey.

Such is the streak running through Teddington at the moment. Each girl has individual reasons to prosper, and together they have a collective determination to improve. This win took them up into fourth: another against Abbey would take them into third, with the possibility of a cup final to come. If Teddington remain resolute, this could be a New Year to remember.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Hannah Hutchison, Amy Hallett, Saskia Brewster, Carla Novakovic, Liz Kriebel, Ella Bothamley, Giulia Clini (1), Emily Coulson, Ella Dodd (2).Subs Ale Fairn (1), Emily Bashford, Millie MacEacharn.
Thanks to Catherine for the pics - more below the table

Bondy's notes from Palace

Unbeaten in four, we’ve ended part 1 of this season very strong. We can see the improvements in what is already a very good team. We are always a team that will score goals; with hard work from the players and coaches, we have become a team that’s hard to beat due to how organised and strong we are in defence and off the ball.

With big games when we’re back it's going to be extremely important to start as we finished. In football there are no easy games, but we can make it easier via training, then putting the information and preparation into practice. Football matches aren't won on the pitch, they’re won in training. How you train is how you play, so we train hard and play hard – and I am confident that will continue when we resume in January.

Thank you for all the Christmas cards and presents and thank you for all your hard work. I hope your Christmas is as special as you all are.

— Bondy

Sun 18 Dec: Crystal Palace (H) W 6-3

A curious end to a memorable 2016. To borrow David Theobald’s twisted cliché, this was a game of three halves; Teddington shuffled into a three-goal lead, calamitously collapsed to gift their visitors a three-goal comeback, then showed their class with another three-goal salvo to win the match.

Crystal Palace’s lovely manager Matt deserves better than his constant struggle to scrape together players: only 10 arrived in Teddington, although he and his coach imbued in them a commendable will to win. With a 14-girl squad to choose from (Giulia and Sadie being unavailable), the hosts made four changes from the epic Cup win over Fleet: Amy Hallett started in deep midfield for Liz Kriebel (rotated to the bench for the first time in an impressive season), with Ella Dodd also rested as last week’s goalscorer Ale Fairn kept her place up top. Millie MacEacharn started on the left with Emily Coulson switching inside to replace Giulia, while Emily Bashford’s slight cold had her rested to the bench for Ella Bothamley, who was also a little under the weather but didn’t tell her coaches, much to their chagrin.

It took just seven minutes for Teddington to break the deadlock, when Amy calmly intercepted and rolled a through-ball for Emily to finish. But the home side weren’t quite at the races: Saskia Brewster had to dig back and stop a threat from Palace’s dangerous right-winger, just two minutes after Anna Kauffmann had done a similar rescue job down the other flank.

On 16 minutes the lead was doubled when Emily spread wide to Macca, whose ball was met first-time in the D by Boz’s left foot. Macca was having a decent game high on the left, linking well with her team-mates, so it was doubly a shame that she had to relocate to left-back when Saskia succumbed to an injury on the arch of her foot in the 24th minute.

The switch demonstrated the squad’s flexibility – Macca willingly dropped to left-back, immediately crashing into a tackle; Emily went into her regular wide-left position and Liz came on at No.10, a position she hasn’t played this season but was very happy to try, although she later acknowledged that “Giulia’s position is haaaard, man – so much running!”. The reshuffle also gave Teddington a back four of Millie, Millie, Hannah and Anna, which might be a recipe for confusion without clear communication.

With linesman Andy Kriebel’s flagging “dabs” and a subs’ bench treating us, if that’s the verb, to choral renditions of festive favourites including Jingle Bell Rock, the feel was more festive than focused – although Ruby Rudkin was certainly in the wide-awake club on the half-hour with two saves in a minute, firstly with her hands to scoop that right-winger’s shot wide for a corner, then from that set-piece saving a six-yard snapshot with her feet.

On came Bash for the somewhat under-pat Boz, immediately frightening her left-back and forcing a save from the goalkeeper, but it was from the other side that Teddington made it 3-0 three minutes before the oranges.

The home side had been encouraged to test the goalkeeper by shooting early, and although some players occasionally misunderstood this with attempts from distance having beaten the offside trap, Emily eventually provided the perfect example. Her layoff to Ale was rewarded with a sumptuously cushioned lay-off back to her, sitting up and demanding to be hit first-time – and Em did just that, arrowing it inside the near-post from the inside-left channel before the keeper had a chance to react.

At half-time the ailing Amy was rested off, with Liz dropping back in and Doddsy playing behind Ale, but a three-goal lead didn’t spare the girls some calmly delivered suggestions for improvement. But Palace were the team who got better, and how. Three minutes into the second half, the right-winger scorched past Macca and her cross was turned in confidently at the near post; three minutes later, the winger cut out the middle-man and simply cut inside to lash past Ruby for 3-2.

Changes were needed and Amy’s rest period was cut short after just five minutes. She returned to deep midfield with Carla replacing Macca at left-back, while Ale made way for Boz – another reshuffle sending Emily inside behind Doddsy, Boz going wide left to keep Bash terrorising her left-back.

The changes settled Teddington, who started to carry more threat going forward, exemplified when they Em spread the play left Boz to cross left-footed – Bash tore in at the back post and hit it gorgeously first-time, but just wide.

Such promise up top was nullified a minute before the hour by a lapse at the back as the Palace forward on the edge of the box was allowed to turn and shoot past Ruby. Inside 15 minutes the home side had gone from 3-0 up to level against a 10-man side at the bottom of the league who had lost every game this season. The small crowd of visiting parents were understandably exultant, but how would Teddington react?

It’s a pleasure to report that they didn’t fold, but knuckled down and concentrated on doing the next thing right. The defence notably tightened up, exemplified when Hannah Hutchison flew across to the corner of the area to contest a loose ball with the centre-forward. The centre-back’s strong shoulder-charge sent her flying and the visitors claiming for a penalty, but the ball was in playing distance, the shoulder-charge legal and the claims ignored.

Up front, Teddington continued to create and learn. When Doddsy was sent through her shot was too close to the goalkeeper’s foot, a mistake she noted and later rectified. But when the home side did retake the lead, in the 67th minute, the goal came from a different source.

Sniffing goals with Teddington pinning the visitors in, Boz had shifted into an inside-left position. Spying the space outside her, Emily cleverly drifted to the left flank, allowing Amy and Liz to recycle wide to her, shifting defenders across. Em quickly found Boz, who tricked inside her marker and shot across the goalkeeper. It hit the far post, bouncing straight out to Bash, who had diligently followed in; instinctively sticking out her left foot, she diverted the ball past the goalkeeper and slowly but deliciously over the line. Deliriously celebrated with what must have seemed to Palace like aggression but was in truth sheer happiness for one of Teddington’s most popular and hard-working players, it was Bash’s second goal in 24 games, and – after Ale’s crucial goal at Fleet last week – the second time in successive games that a valued squad member has enjoyed a hugely welcome return to the goals column.

Four minutes later, 4-3 became 5-3. Set up by Amy’s muscular intervention and superbly-weighted lay-off, Em danced past the two centre-backs and calmly slotted home. Her tenth goal of the season completed her second hat-trick of 2016 – she bagged one in the March mullering of Abbey Rangers. (She’s also claimed the metaphorical match-ball against Caterham Pumas, Colne Valley (4) and Molesey Juniors (5)). Talented on the ball and committed without it, Emily is flourishing in a variety of forward roles and getting the rewards her talent deserves.

Also among the goals this season is Doddsy, and she didn’t miss twice. Sent through with two minutes to go, she ran from the halfway line and took just two touches to end the match. First she chested the bouncing ball in front of her, then from the edge of the box she larruped it past a helpless goalkeeper for her eighth of the season. Like Emily, she is already well past last season’s goal return and more than halfway to beating her haul from two seasons ago. Boz is also more than halfway past her total from last season, while Bash has already matched her personal best...

A word, too, for the back four (or six). The coaches all know from personal experience that a defender’s lot is a tough one, rarely examined except in criticism, and the Teddington defence will surely admit that this was not their finest day. But when things went badly, they dug in and shored up. Let it not go unnoticed that Doddsy’s game-ending goal was created by a through-ball from Coffee, winning a 50/50 challenge that left her flattened on the floor, picking herself up in time to join in the celebrations.

Such determination is a good part of the reason that Teddington have now gone four games unbeaten – and as they haven’t gone five undefeated since late 2014, that’s evidence of a growing self-belief. Consistency would be nice – this is still a squad capable of matching Wimbledon yet capitulating by conceding three goals in 15 minutes to a 10-girl team at the bottom of the league – but they are regularly finding ways to get results.

That would be a useful knack to carry into a January fixture list involving league games against Fleet and Abbey (their rivals in a three-team mini-league competing for third place behind leading duo Wimbledon and Maidenhead) plus a mouth-watering Surrey Cup semi-final against Abbey again. If they play to their capacity, Teddington are capable of winning them all and setting up a very pleasant 2017.

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Hannah Hutchison, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Amy Hallett, Carla Novakovic, Ella Bothamley (1), Emily Coulson (3), Millie MacEacharn, Ale Fairn. Subs Ella Dodd (1), Emily Bashford (1), Liz Kriebel.

Thanks to David T for the pictures.

Bondy's (very) post-match message: Fleet

Apologies for delayed message; I know how much you look forward to reading Bondy's Post Match Message.

A massive shout out to Ruby, who saved two penalties and even scored one - just goes to show what a quality goalkeeper we have in our team.

In the FA Youth Cup, playing for Ruislip Manor, it’s my turn to take a penalty… and I miss. So I know how it feels, but anyone accepting the responsibility to take a penalty for their team is brilliant. I think of the things I did in previous games and in that game, even in games after, and I think there was a lot more I did right to help the team.

Sunday was a special day, cup games have that added spice. We felt we trained extremely hard, were very organised with the preparation and information; to date, last Friday session was the best we delivered from a coaching point and the level of quality in training from the players.

We can see things starting to take shape in defence and attack. Naturally we have quality in abundance: going forward, we look like we’re going to score every time. What has improved, being our main focus in training, has been working without the ball: in recent games, the decrease in shots Ruby has to save is down to how organised and strong we are off the ball.

We have a team now that has quality with ball and will work hard to win it back and will do anything to keep the ball out of our goal. We have quality all over the pitch, 16 girls who are playing fantastic attacking and defending football. We now turn our attention to Sunday’s match: no game is ever easy but we go in full of confidence.

– Bondy