SONNING 4 - 0 BICESTER
10th November 2007

A long but pleasant drive in autumn sunshine to play at the windswept Coopers School.

A squad of 13 players were, however, reduced at one time, to 10 on the pitch! First Carolynne Woffington limped off with achilles problems. Then Sharon Oldham was taken out on her way to an almost certain goal by a tiny goalkeeper made confident by her goalkeeping equipment. On landing Sharon was in severe pain and has severely damaged her thumb - not good for our web site manager! The third injury was as result of a rising ball between two sticks hitting Karen Vive on the chin, causing a nasty split. Fortunately for all three players, and thanks to our captain, Sue Hicks, and El Presidente, we always have a comprehensive and fully maintained 1st Aid kit pitchside, which helped to minimise the seriousness of the injuries.

As to the game itself, it was not in any way as dangerous as the list of injuries might suggest, and was most enjoyable, umpired competently by the Bicester umpires.

For once, Sonning took an early lead when Sharon Oldham capitalised on a Bicester defensive error to slot the ball into an empty goal. The Sonning players realised that they were easily finding holes in the Bicester defence and were relentless in pushing forwards. In contrast, in spite of some fine individual runs by young Bicester players, the Sonning defence had them well covered. The second goal came from a short corner switched from Debbie Webb to Jill Grindal and then to Sharon Oldham.

Five minutes into the second half saw the goalie's tackle on Sharon, and after her departure from the game, Carol Reader took over as centre forward, where she was delighted to use the position and the support of Sonning mid-field players, to score Sonning's third goal.

Despite the brief spell when the team was down to 10 while Karen was patched up, Bicester was unable to break through the Sonning defence. The fourth goal came from a lovely run down the wing by Debbie Webb who drew the goalkeeper and made a superb pass in the D to Carol Reader who was happy to convert!

A 4-0 win places Sonning Vets firmly in second position in the league.
 

J.Grindal

Team: S.Hicks, C.Miles, R.Beasley, S.Edgerton, C.Reader, K.Vive, J.Grindal, D.Webb, J.Ireland, l.Weeks, S.Oldham, C.Woffington, J.Hepplewhite.