The Ladies 5XI were hosted on Halloween by Brentwood 5 Development team. Witching hour was 3:45pm, so a late affair which would be played under floodlights. After the usual linear trip down the A127 to Becket Keys School (or 'Deadly Headley' - Headley Walter School when I was a mere youth !) the team gathered together and prayed that we would not be martyred like the school namesake. We had the luxury of a sub this week as we had a smattering of 4s playing (Poppie, Lexi & Abigail) as well as goalie Ali, & Sammy G from the giddy heights of 3s! All had hotfooted it across the County from previous games to make our pushback. Having won the toss, we started with strength and played the ball out the right hand side where Kadence, with her usual fast pace, drove the ball and  passed down the line to Lexi who ran the ball into the D. We had already started putting pressure on Brentwood and had only been playing for a few minutes. They managed to pass out down their left and into the middle but the ball was intercepted by the halfway line by Sheri, passed to me on the right and again, it was moved back down to Lexi at RF. A punishing cross into the D found Pippa Mintern crouching low, stick on the ground (as practised in training!) and as the ball connected with her stick, a hard sweep pushed it past the keeper. Her first goal scored for 5s! As the ball audibly hit the back board, Mr Holmes entered the perimeter of the pitch. I couldn't really tell if he was surprised or shocked by the goal after only 5 minutes but a smile did cross his face as he made his way round to the dug out. The early goal certainly lifted us all and we played with a new determination. Brentwood did counter attack but continually got thwarted on the left hand side by Poppie Cara, and Sam Grethe. Ali was not really challenged at all - maybe the odd kick out but nothing taxing and Brentwood didn't seem to make any shots that seemed to be on target. Freya managed to clear any balls that were loose in the D just to close down any chances that were put their way. We had to defend a few short corners in the first half but saw the ball away, with no problem. A quick rehydration  and we were ready for the 2nd half. Our midfield of Zoe, Cara, Sam, Kadence & Abigail  were running their legs off and created many opportunities for the forwards to take a shot. Even Poppie took the ball to the edge of the D a couple of times from LB! Cara had been working her way up the left hand side and was getting nearer and nearer to entering the D and when she did, she took the ball and with an angled hard hit, smashed the ball straight into the goal. At the age of 12, she can only play development games, so she certainly made sure this match counted and made us all look forward to her turning 13! Ali had viewed the spectacle from her little netted haven at the other end and was a very proud mummy (not of the bandaged kind despite the date!) The remaining 12 mins was played with no goals from either side so although it was a ghoulish result for Brentwood, it was spook-tacular for us! The votes for Player of the Match went unanimously to Cara and deservedly so. The second win on the bounce, let's see what next Sunday brings when we face Witham 2