Bicester Ladies 2 vs Abingdon Pilgrims Ladies 1

At the start of the day, Bicester Ladies 2s were point less, but positive, and made their way down the A34 to the blue fields of Tilsley Park to take on Abingdon Pilgrims Ladies 1s who had ominously beaten Oxford Ladies 5s 7-2 in their previous match.
Captain Kirsty Mckenna was so fired up and determined to get to the pitch that she may have picked up a speeding fine on the way - curse those Police camera vans that lurk on bridges over the A34.
The match began with creative attacking play from Bicester and an early opportunity saw Kirsty Mckenna take full advantage of space in Pilgrims' D to slot the ball home - 1-0. The momentum of play was then shared by both teams as Pilgrims started to create their own opportunities, passing the ball swiftly. However, the Bicester defence held firm - Captain's Player Charlotte Allen, making her debut for the Ladies 2s, making decisive tackles and strong clearances from our defence line.
Bicester had their own opportunities to score, often created by our other debutant for the day Sam Scott, whose running off the ball and positioning play created space from which the ball just would not travel into the net.
With the minutes of the first half counting down, Pilgrims sent through a long ball which was picked up by their high-hanging forward and was knocked into our goal following a rebound - 1-1 at half time.
Into the second half and Bicester built on their positive start to the game. The ball was being passed beautifully between the midfield line of Maddie Smith, Immy Thripland and Mione Romain following an excellent tactical mid-field switch at half time by Vice Captain Samantha Horle. There was a heart-stopping moment when Kirsty Mckenna decided to stop a clearance with her knee cap, but an ice pack and a sit down at the side of the pitch restored her tenacity - a dimpled, purple bruise being her badge of honour for bravery.
Bicester's chances in front of goal increased and several players had opportunities to score - Lilla Squire being forgiven for conspiring to miss her best opportunity as the goal gaped in front of her and the ball fired past the outside of the right post. Fortunately for us, our dominance in the second half paid off and two further goals - one for Dame of the Game Nicolene Willers Cameron, ably finished off after a lovely passage of play out of our defence, and a second for Kirsty Mckenna who calmly rounded the keeper and slotted the ball in the far corner of the goal. 3-1 and a well-earned victory for Bicester ladies 2s - off the bottom of the table with 3 points and feeling ever more positive.
Well done to the whole team - every team member played their part, working hard both on and off the ball to create space for one another. It certainly felt good to finally get a win on the board!