Hawks L1s lose out to Trojans 1-0

Coming off the back of an intense 2-2 draw against the top of the table, Hawks were keen to keep the pressure on against Trojans who were sitting at the bottom of the table. Hosting them at home, Hawks found themselves struggling to reproduce the intense fluid passing performance of the previous week.

The first quarter felt messy, with Hawks conceding a corner in the early minutes of the game. Trojans attempted a slip left manoeuvre which was ably cleaned up by keeper Emma Page. Hawks passing and connections were a little out of sync, leading to a lot of mid-pitch turnover.  Nevertheless, they were able to mount a series of attacking efforts. On one occasion attacking first up the right-hand side, passing into Emma O’Nein who hit the ball hard and flat. The Trojans keeper stretching to make the save, but Hawks were on the rebound and sending it back across goal looking for a deflection. A trojans foot in the D meant Hawks had their first corner of the game. Hawks attempt to play a slip manoeuvre at the top was smothered by the Trojans keeper and eventually cleared. This led to a period of pressure by Hawks, who secured further corners, but which they were unable to converted.

The second quarter played out in a similar way; Hawks unable to break their disjoined playing style. Whilst the passing was having difficulty in flowing, Sally Clark and Player of the Match Emily Cavender remained a solid presence at the back, cutting out Trojans efforts to play the ball into the D and putting in some well-timed and solid tackles. Some strong words from coach Andy Clark in the break, meant that Hawks came out with some grit saw a period of sustained pressure from Hawks. However, they were unable to capitalise from this, leaving the score 0-0 going into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter saw some attacking play from Trojans winning them a series of 2 short corners, the second of which Trojans pounced on a rebound to slip it under keeper Emma Page. This unsettled Hawks, but they did manage to come back with their own attacking efforts with Kim showing some lovely skill to get into the D and cross a reverse stick ball far post, a ball that Emily Clark was just short of reaching. The following attack led to a short corner, which ended in locked sticks and a strange umpiring decision to call a bully off as a result. Despite these efforts, the game finished a disappointing 1-0 for Hawks. Hats off to Trojans for fighting hard throughout the game to get the three points to support their bid to remove themselves from the bottom of the table.