'Spanking' brings Reading to tears

Hockey

Imperial Ladies 1s – 5

Reading 1s – 0

After coming down from the league above Reading were confident of a win. With our full squad of 12 players and our coach Oli on the sideline we were ready to cause an upset.

We had a relatively even first half with neither side converting their chances leaving the half-time scoreline at 0-0 thanks mostly to Goalie Jess. Following some great advice and encouragement from Oli we went on to score our first goal two minutes later – a slick pass from Teddy on the backline for Shanika to finish from the p-spot, just as Oli told us to.

Our second goal followed shortly after, Shanika held the ball in the D for Harriet to run on to and first time drag through the keeper’s open legs. Reading tried to up the pressure but never looked dangerous in our circle.

Meanwhile our defence continued to neatly switch the ball around the back with Aash making some spectacular tackles. Fifteen minutes in Teddy dribbled into the D and smashed the ball at the keeper, which she unfortunately saved, thankfully Nora was there to send the ball back to Teddy, at the coveted p-spot, where she finally flicked it into the net.

Our defence held their composure with Celia making some key distributions straight up the pitch. Kirstin was on the receiving end of one of these and scored an impressive goal from an unlikely angle! By now Reading’s heads were down and IC continued to push forward. We had a number of shortcorners disallowed but Gigi finally secured our 5-0 victory with a great push from a rebounded shortcorner, leaving Reading crying on the sideline... literally!