Our penultimate match of the season entailed  a roadtrip to IG6 to play Redbridge & Ilford 1s. As a team of 11, we seemed to have pursued various routes - A127, M25, M11, back route to Forest Road; A13, A406, A12 to the Sports Centre and some  went way off piste - A127, M25, M11 Northbound towards Cambridge, M11 Southbound to the Redbridge roundabout and then to the venue! Fortunately, we had all left with plenty of time to spare so no major compromise to the push back; however, not sure about to cars and bladders! Anyway, the return to the blue pitches brought back memories over the past 5 seasons of a London club full of lovely ladies who had consolidated from 2 teams into 1; where we  met our goalie, Char,  for the first time; the place where we played with just 9 on our team and Stephanie Rapp received ball imprints in places I won't mention; and the place where Sue Sandford & Michelle Green nervously played their first match for OSHC  having defected mid season from Southend HC.  And I think the standout memory was of Michelle accidentally causing a head injury to one of their players and us sitting having teas whilst they were taking pictures of the top of her scalp and showing it to the player! Anyway, back to present day. Our ladies 4s had more recently experienced a defeat at Redbridge and it seemed like there was a new lady on their team who had a hard hit on her - Patience. Patience had spliced two  hockey balls in half during their clash. Was the ball smasher going to be playing against L5s?? Yes, she was! Having won the first push back we started our attack and whilst we were able to move the ball between us effectively, initially, we then found that it was being intercepted by Patience and then forcefully finding its way into their D. She took any opportunity to try to score - by hitting, tomahawking, anyway she could, which was fortunately thwarted by Sue who made some magnificent saves. Redbridge had no keeper and were playing 4 upfront; however, they seemed to keep a tight defence too so when we did manage to break through and get a chance to score they managed to get out of trouble. That is until 20 minutes in and Suzie cracked a great shot straight into the left hand corner of the goal!. At half time Steve allocated Zoe to stick to Patience like glue - well. as best she could! The score stayed at 1-0 to us until early in the second half when they slipped the ball past Sue from the left. Max had been doing a great job of disrupting the flow of Patience and then redistributing the ball back down to our forwards but the ball seemed to then come back through to Patience again. Within 5 minutes of their first goal, Patience had taken a well angled shot that Sue just couldn't stretch to. They were 2 - 1 up, soon to become 3- 1 as Patience struck again from a Penalty corner. Undeterred we lifted our heads and carried on and Suzie brought the score back to 2-3, closely followed by a lovely tap in by Chloe. Back to a level playing field! Then a foul by Redbridge saw us awarded a Penalty Flick. As  Darcey lined up in front of the open goal, a Redbridge player elected to go against her. As Darcey hit the ball, the player got her stick to it  - still 3 - 3.  There had been several time stoppages, over the course of the match and after Patience catapulted another goal into the back of the net, Charlotte enquired as to how long we had left. 7 minutes was the reply so we reset and were gearing up for a push to equalise when the whistle went from the other side of the pitch. Not sure whether watches weren't quite synchronized but it is irrelevant now. It had been a fast paced game, dominated by a fast paced player from Redbridge but that is not to take away great play by our ladies as a team with the stand out performances coming from Max and Sue and they were joint Players of the Match. Sue was also awarded the 'Pants' for her northbound detour which she put down to killing time before the sun came out!