ON a very wet Saturday morning, Ross travelled the long distance to Evesham to play Bretforton Seconds. The rain continued to pour down during the warm up laps around the car park and drills of ‘rob the nest’. At the umpire’s two minute warning, whistle coats were reluctantly peeled off in preparation for what would be a tightly contested game. 

The two teams are currently sitting in fifth and sixth position in the league, so Ross knew it was going to be a very even game and it proved to be so. The visitors started to attack early with good runs from attackers Sophie and Laura. Bretforton put Ross under pressure at line outs and 16’s with good defending formations. As the game progressed, Bretforton began to play more in Ross’ half, with good shadowing and strong stops from Cal forcing the home side to play down their left side.

Kim displayed some fierce defence pushing up to meet the ball and continued putting the attackers under pressure. Becca the ‘jab-tackling queen’ was strong in centre defence and Holly B picked up any balls and attackers that managed to get through, giving goalie Esther a quiet half.

Bretforton continued to put Ross under increasing pressure for the remainder of the half, making it difficult for the visitors to gain any continuity or flow to their attack. Players were beginning to get frazzled as the home side forced mistakes and Ross began to force play too much.

Thankfully for Ross the half time whistle came as the sun began to break through. After some calming talks and nourishing jelly babies the visitors were ready to face the second half.

Ross started strongly and had a few attacking short corners which they were very unfortunate not to convert into goals. Dawson played the ball well up the left wing beating a number of defenders. Lucy played well up the right wing with her signature ‘chip over the defenders stick and run’ play coming to the fore. Bronwyn and Nerys brought fresh legs to the game and were instrumental in both attack and defence along the wings. Jess played well in the midfield both marking Bretforton’s strongest player in the centre and making good supporting runs for the forwards and midfield. She is also to be commended for surviving her first match without sustaining an injury this season! Steph had a hard game alongside Jess in the centre having to run back to defend on Ross’ backline and then moving into attack to support the forwards.

With a passage of quick play down the right wing late in the second half, Bretforton beat a couple of Ross defenders to end up with a three-on-two overlap in the D and scored a goal. Ross had a few good attempts to gain a goal back but as the game progressed Ross were forced to play an increasing defensive game.

In a very even game between the sides, Ross were just outplayed by a good Bretforton side who secured the 1-0 win. Ross played well, especially with a number of players playing out of position this week and can go forward next week with many positives.