Ladies' 1s Match Report 21st September

The Ladies' 1s made an explosive start to their South League Division 3B campaign with an impressive 11-0 win at Tulse Hill & Dulwich 2s. Despite the South London heat and having a smaller squad than the opposition Fareham quickly took control of the game with Heather Batten scoring the first of her five goals in the 2nd minute following a pass from Hannah Oldham. Three minutes later Hannah Simon weaved her way through the home defence and scored to double the Fareham lead. Vicky Field made her first appearance on the score sheet in the 17th minute and added her second from a penalty corner three minutes later. Another penalty corner goal from Laura Pendleton followed in the 26th minute and Heather added a sixth goal for Fareham with a solo effort in the closing seconds of the first half.

The visitors began the second half determined not to let the tempo drop and it took only four minutes after the restart for Vicky and Hannah Oldham to set up Heather, allowing her to complete her hat-trick. Not to be outdone, Vicky also added her third goal in the 47th minute as this time the roles were reversed and Heather provided the key pass. Four minutes later Lydia Rowswell scored the 9th from a penalty corner to equal Fareham's previous highest single game goal tally in a South League game (9-1 against Worthing in 2017/18). That mark was eclipsed in the 63rd minute when Heather scored our fourth penalty corner goal to take us into double figures. A minute later she rounded off a memorable debut by scoring her final goal and Fareham's eleventh.

Everyone played their part in what was an excellent team performance and a welcome confidence booster. There will of course be much sterner challenges to come, beginning with our home clash against Havant next Saturday (11.45) but we could not have asked for a better start.