Twas a cold winters morning in mid December…..so cold that the ink in the pen was freezing up …which is my excuse for a shorter report!

The Ducklington Girls looked sharp (and warmer than the spectators) in their new coats, courtesy of Hook Hatcheries. The expectations were high. The twenty five strong crowd braved the icy chill to watch the away match in the heart of Abingdon.

St Edmund's started with a strong opening attack but were ably dealt with by Holly Keylock, Katy Hoare and Katie Weaving. Ducklington responded well with some good passes between Sophie Pymm, Laura Jones and Ella Butler culminating in a saved shot from Ella in the second minute and a saved shot from Sophie in the sixth minute. The resulting break by St Edmund's following Sophie’s shot caught Ducklington off guard and the home team punished the visitors with the opening goal of the game.1-0

Two minutes later and Laura Jones threaded a cross through to Ella Butler, who lobbed the keeper from the right only for the ball to rebound cruelly off the bar. A minute later and St Edmund's were putting on the pressure again. Viv Hughes saved the shot and the following build up set up Laura Jones for a shot at the other end. This was saved and two minutes later Sophie Pymm also saw her shot in the hands of the keeper.

Then followed a bizarre occurrence, in the thirteenth minute, when Ella Butler was brought down just inside St Edmund's half. …..the Ducklington Girls stopped….the referee played on….St Edmund's capitalised and the ball was in the back of the Ducklington net. “Play to the whistle” Ducklington!!-A harsh lesson learnt.2-0

Three minutes later and St Edmund's again caught Ducklington napping taking the score to 3-0 Lauren Major responded well a minute later in the seventeenth minute with a run three quarters of the pitch only to see her shot saved and the rebound struck wide by Katie Weaving. The ever present Katy Hoare in central defence battled tirelessly, supported by Katie Weaving and Abbey Lloyd and their combined efforts prevented any further goals from St Edmund's in the first half.

Ducklington finished the half well with a Laura Jones shot skimming the left post in the dying moments of the half. The half time team talk would hopefully warm up the Ducklington players! A minute into the second half and Lauren Majors shot drew a parried save but the keeper recomposed herself for the rebound shot from Francis Hook. The resulting clearance was left unchallenged and St Edmund's notched up their fourth. 4-0

In the fourth minute Sophie Pymm crossed to Lauren Major who set up Francis Hook shot for yet another save from the St Edmund's keeper. Lauren Major had a shot saved in the sixth minute .

Then followed the second bizarre incident of the game with a St Edmund's player picking up the ball believing it had rolled out of play…clearly not learning from Ducklingtons earlier mistake of not playing to the whistle.

The half time team talk had clearly rubbed off to some extent and Ducklingtons passing improved as they started to find some of the form that had eluded them in the first half, with notable shots from Lauren Major and Ella Butler in the middle of the half.

Then on the quarter of an hour mark Ella Butler saw her shot parried by the keeper to be clinically finished by Lauren Major.4-1

Unfortunately it was to be a case of too little too late and in the twentieth minute the home side put the result beyond doubt with a poorly defended attack seeing the ball roll into the back of the net. 5-1

Again Ducklington turned it up a gear at the end of the half with shots from Lauren, Ella and Laura, but to no avail. The final whistle drew the game to an end with the score remaining at 5-1

Ducklingtons player of the match was awarded to Katy Hoare who had run her heart out all game and was instrumental in keeping the score line marginally out of the ‘annihilation headlines!