After a joyous and merry Christmas party, the Ladies 1s indoor team gathered at a rather early meet on Sunday at 8am for a road trip to Canterbury. To my surprise there were no hangovers to be seen - although there was one delayed reaction at the start of our very first game.

The tone of the day was set when the team gathered in the changing rooms to find Lorna Parsons covering her goalkeeping kickers with zebra print covers.

The team started their first game well with strong passing and use of the side boards. It was clear that our first game was going to be the toughest of the day losing to the eventual clear deserved winners Bromley and Beckenham. However a super short corner drag flick to the top left of the goal (one of several during the day) from Beth James prevented a clean sheet.

Our second game against Upminster was a very different pace with Brentwood marching into the lead. Some fantastic movement and dribbling from forwards Beth James, Lauren Blackburn and Gemma Chambers created many chances and short corners. However a few unseen lifted balls across the Brentwood defending D resulted in Upminster creeping back into the game. A close 5-4 loss.

Brentwood were determined not to let the second result bring them down, coming out even stronger against Letchworth 1s, the eventual runners up. With strong defending from Lisa Payne, Lily Wiltshire and Natalie Gilder feeding the ball into Fran Hayden-Sims and some super saves by Lorna Parsons, Letchworth were kept at bay. A 2-2 result proved fair with Brentwood receiving some lovely compliments from the Tournament Director.

Having drawn the short straw of having to play the first and very last games of the day, Brentwood continued improving to finish the day on a high. With a strong and relentless presence in the middle, Fran Hayden-Sims led the charge with Brentwood again taking a 3-0 lead early on. Every member of the team put all their efforts in until the final whistle with a 5-2 win against UEA.

A huge thank you to Arwyn and Jackie James for being our manager and coach for the day. Their continued support and cheering kept the team in top spirits.

Top BHC goal scorer: Beth James

Most memorable goal: Fran Hayden-Sims passing the ball ‘off the back line’ from the far right corner of the D which miraculously crossed the goal line at such an angle leaving both teams, umpires and officials completely stunned.

Congratulations to Brom and Becks for their promotion to the East Prem. But a huge well done to BHC for battling to third.

Natalie Gilder