Second week in and the Ladies 5s were pitched against the Ladies 4s. The Battle of the Bridge had begun. However, this was no acrimonious clash - in fact it was a competitive coming together, not only of two of our club teams, but of hockey families. The problem was, in most cases, the kinfolk were on opposite teams. With twelve players each we were evenly matched but would it be white or gold that were victorious? The first half started quite positively with 5s managing to keep 4s top goalscorers Paige and Chloe away from the D danger zone despite their quick passing to each other and meandering down the pitch. Sheri did a good job of stopping them in their tracks with her jab tackles on the right hand side whilst Poppie was shoring up the left. When we gained possession we did manage to get the ball through to our forwards Suzie, Stephanie and Michelle with some great leading runs and passes by Zoe, Lexi & Pippa but the goals just didn't come. An early opportunity from  a Penalty Corner didn't reap rewards either. The even pace of play suddenly became weighted in favour of the 4s after 10 minutes as Chloe received the ball and managed to get past Char on the left hand side of the goal. We reset but within another 5 minutes Darcey eluded both the defence and keeper and we were 2-0 down. Undeterred, we continued playing in the same way and despite still not finding the back of the net, we were holding our own. That was until the 28th minute when Paige, having been thwarted from scoring thus far, hit the back board. A fairly conclusive end to the first half. We came back on pitch in fighting spirits, ready for the last 35 minutes. A rogue 4s foot gave us a Penalty Corner within the opening minutes and finally we were rewarded with a Super Suzie Special and the score was 3-1. And this is how it stayed. We definitely seemed to ramp our game up a notch in the second half, both defensively and offensively. Michelle, on the right, took a Paige out of her daughter's book and kept the pressure up on the 4s defence with lots of crosses in the D which either hit the post or from which the recipient didn't manage to score. There were no ifs or Butts about Sam's tackling ability and Abigail was divested of the ball several times by her mum. And there was certainly no Rapp-ort between Stephanie and Emmeline on the pitch, unlike the sweet Williams' pair who will be expecting to harvest a bigger crop of goals for their respective teams at our next encounter after Christmas. Fortunately for Sue, Chloe, Zoe, Poppie and Lexi they all played happy families on the same side as each other! So we had a spread of votes for our Player Of The Match which included acknowledgment for Pippa, Daisy, Sheri, Michelle, Zoe & Char but the winner  was Sam. And it seems incredibly contradictory to say that Suzie was a Pile of Pants after she scored our goal, but when she tried to go through Max rather than round her, she found herself with pant presentation after teas. Onwards and upwards to Chelmer Park next week for a late game against the team in green!