The Shots Ladies had their annual trip to Shanklin on the Isle of Wight on Sunday 28th October 2007. Shanklin were lying 2nd, but had played 7 games to Aldershot's 3, and Shanklin had a previous history of being one of the Shots 'bogey' teams on past form. However this was not to deter the current side as they battled out a fiercely-fought point at Green Lane.
The weather conditions were not great and the driving wind and rain was causing a concern. Shanklin kicked off and the Shots were on the back foot from the start, with the Shots trying to get out of their half the ball just kept getting pumped back in. On 11 minutes, the ball again broke free and a Shanklin player was the quickest to react when Calder came off her line to smother the shot. Again the Shots found it hard to get their football together and on 23 minutes from nothing the ball came to the right side off the Shots penalty box, the Shanklin player controlled and then hit a lofted shot into the net, which Calder could only watch. 1-0.
This spurred the Shots on and for the first time started to get their passing game going, with Danni Shepherd and Nikki McDonald starting to get freedom on the wings. Ireland and North started to combat and stifle the threat in midfield. On 27 minutes, the ball found Laura Hann, she out-paced the defenders and passed the Shanklin keeper who made contact to bring her down in the box. The referee, who had an all-round good game, cautioned the Shanklin number one, and Laura Wallman stepped up to fire the penalty high into the net for her 11th goal of the season 1-1.
Once again the midfield battle kept getting bogged down and Shanklin tried to catch the Shots defence out with the long ball, but Calder and Grover saw away the danger each time. As the Shots tried to hold out until half time, a Shanklin striker hit a shot from 25 yards it caught the wind and moved in the air and all Calder could do is flap at the ball as it passed her into the net 2-1.
At half time, the Shots re-grouped and came out fighting, and from the kick off you could see the Shots had upped their game. This time Shanklin found it hard to get out of their own half. Hann was coming more into the game and North had a few half-chances. When Shanklin did break out, the back four of Coles, Smith, Grover and Giberson held firm and cleared the danger.
The Shots equalised once again on 53 minutes, when a ball was played through the midfield, but when the Shanklin defender tried to control the ball, Hann was on hand again to nip in and place the ball exquisitely past the keeper into the net to score her 9th of the season. 2-2
The game wore on and either side could have taken all 3 points, and at the final whistle, the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
Player of the Match goes to Hanna Grover.
The Gaffer's View
The weather conditions didn't help, it was one of those games you had to earn the right to win. We never got to grips with the conditions in the first half and took time to get our own game going. We seemed settled in the second half, caused them problems, and in the end I believe the draw was a fair result.
I would just like to thank Tony Brooker for organizing a coach for the trip over, it saved a lot of work. Thanks Tony.
The Captain's View
This was a tough fought game, which was to be expected given the history between the two teams. It was one of those games where grit and determination played a huge part. Overall, it was a good team performance with everyone working hard for each other. It was a real battle but we stood our ground and did well to get a point away from home in poor weather conditions. We're back at home on Sunday so will be fully focused and looking forward to that. Thank you to everyone who made the trip across to Shanklin to support us and to Tony Brooker for organising the coach, it was very much appreciated.
Squad
Hayley Calder, Di Smith, Katherine Giberson, Tara Coles, Hanna Grover, Nikki McDonald, Emma North ©, Stacey Ireland, Laura Wallman, Laura Hann Shepherd
Subs: Tasha Meredith, Jo Donoghue
Goals: Wallman (pen) 27", Hann 53"
Cautioned: Smith