And so the big day had arrived that SULFC were to play Basingstoke Res. After the disappointment of not fielding a team for the first league clash, and the 1-1 draw after full time in the first meeting between the teams in the intermediate Cup, SULFC were up for revenge.

Prior to the game SULFC were struck down with quite a number of injuries. Payne and Huggy are both out til the end of the season, Finchy's foot was still not right, Dani and Linz both had strapped up ankles and Marie fell down the stairs (twice) on Saturday doing some type of injury to herself. Apart from that we were still fielding a very very strong team.

We started off by dominating for 20mins. Playing the ball around well and some brilliant use of the wingers almost pulled SULFC off a 1-0 when Karleen clipped the post with her shot. The defence was strong and considering the vast difference in height of the two teams, we were dealing with the pace of the strikers well.

After 20mins, B'stoke started to get a bit more of a grip on the game and had a number of throw ins within our half. The height difference was making it tough for sulfc, and with the ball getting flicked across goal and Maz out numbered on the back post, it was a simple tap in for B'stoke. Sloppy defending and a slight lack of communication looked to have cost us big time.

The remainder of the half was fairly scrappy with play going from end to end. Half time came and SULFC were 1-0 down.

2nd half started with both teams pressing hard. Good defending from SULFC and the ball more on the floor saw a positive start. With the defence under a lot of pressure, and the keeper off her line, the ball came to Dani just in the B'stoke half. She couldn't have stuck the ball any sweeter, and it floated and clipped the underside of the crossbar, and crossed the line and even hitting part of the net. With B'stoke trying to fumble the ball out of the net before the ref saw and for some unknown reason to every member of SULFC and the small fan club we had with us were in disbelief when the goal wasn't awarded. Only the ref would know why it wasn't given, and thats because he couldn't be arsed to move from the spot he was stood on for the whole game.

With the ref continuing to make the worst decisions ever and SULFC really pushing hard for the equaliser, it just wouldn't come and the final score was 1-0 to B'stoke.

SULFC were by far the better team today, and were let down by some poor decisions. Communication was good and we played well as a team. Unfortunately we now can't be promoted, but are in with a good chance of gaining third place, as long as we beat Salisbury on weds evening.

Next season the league is ours girls, this year we were just unlucky. Chins up!