AAW3s v UNSW #Peptalk

Trauma, tears and a grazed nipple. This sums up my time in goals today. Our defense was chomped on, masticated and spat out in the first half. We basically just spent the 45 minutes winning the ball then passing it helpfully back to UNSW who ripped right through our nonexistent middle about thirty times. Diving over and over across that nasty dry patch of dirt between the goals at the Reg, I lost quite a bit of skin from various body parts. When that blessed whistle blew for halftime I trotted back to the sidelines and promptly burst into tears. Coach has never dealt with tears on the pitch before and gave me an awkward pat amongst the sweet and encouraging hugs from my team mates. Going down 6-nil in a half was not, of course, my fault alone but it still felt like shit.

Now last week’s coach, the lovely Lee Burney, promised to help us and he came through solidly; introducing Charming Charlie at training on Wednesday night. Charlie is the Prems’ goalie, currently out of serious action with a torn meniscus. Charlie might be what we needed all along. He’s firm, fair and strategically minded, plus he is so nice to look at. Our girls hung on his every word and will likely do anything he says. And we do love getting told what to do. After mostly observing our messy first half, he didn’t lose his cool or walk away in disgust, but relayed strict and crystal clear instructions.

The next 45 minutes was like being on a completely different team. We didn’t dominate but we held position, kept possession and made some real chances. If only we’d started out like this we wouldn’t have gotten such a bollocking.

The second half ended with a respectable 1-all. Even our Ref (Ze Count) and the very nice girls from UNSW were somewhat complementary; “that’s how football should be played”. It is indeed and Charming Charlie is now certain of what we need to actually win. Pretty much everything.

Great play this week from Emma, solid in any role she’s given.

This week’s #Peptalk is brought to you by Lucas’ Pawpaw Ointment – Lyndall helped me slather it on my grazed nipple and other wounds and it worked wonders.

Goal: Francesca