Well where do I start......after defeating one of the largest sporting clubs in Sweden and then the best team in Sweden at our age group the girls now had to come straight from the pitch, without going back to the hotel to get out of their strips and freshen up, and travel 15km on public transport nursing their aches and pains from the 2 full games they'd already played before taking on Pitea. We eventually arrived to monsoon weather with the girls looking like exhausted drowned rats to be honest. The other team arrived in their cars looking fresh as daisy's and started their warm up. Meg was carrying an injury and couldn't start, Briggsy could hardly move with her hip playing up after 2 games and I've never seen the girls with so little in the tank. The game kicked off in terrible visibility due to the monsoon coming down and we found ourselves one down after one of their many long punts forward, which should have been dealt with, spilled out to their player who blasted home from close range. We equalised soon after through Brooke Smith to make it 1-1. At this point the girls were trying their best but just didnt have the energy to make any impact on the game. Pitea continued launching the ball over the top at every opportunity and scored a second after a mis hit back pass put their forward through to score. Their third followed much the same pattern with an attempted clearance being mis hit leaving an open goal for them to fire into. These mistakes almost certainly the result of physical and mental tiredness. We then hit the inside of the post with a great strike on the greasy surface which was so close to going in. The second half kicked off with the girls trying hard to force the issue but for all their possession, just didn't have anything left in the tank to build up any kind of good attacking positions.
I do try and stay objective in these blogs and I can honestly say we were beaten by the schedule today. This competition was always going to be hard playing a year above ourselves and I have a feeling it was there for the taking but the physical demands of travelling from one tough match straight to another and playing a team who'd had a big break from playing just proved too much for them.
Till the next time...........