EG travelled north to Oldham at the weekend, for their fourth round match of the EH National Vase Competition.  EG were lucky enough to be joined in their quest by a band of loyal travelling supporters from the other EG Ladies’ teams, as well as the EG Men’s Vets (who were playing their Cup match in Chester that afternoon).

The match was delayed by half an hour, to allow the overnight frost on the pitch to completely thaw out.  The weather was thankfully beautiful and the supporters all looked particularly stylish in their trendy sunglasses (Kerry also brought along her executive wheelie case and wouldn’t have looked out of place on the catwalk…)

The match couldn’t have started better for EG; Emma Pearson won an early penalty corner after two minutes which was coolly converted with a convincing strike by Michelle Wolfe.  EG kept the pressure on Oldham and four minutes later Steph Baggett won a penalty flick when her shot was stopped on the line by an Oldham player’s foot.  Briony Bray made no mistake from the p-spot to give EG an early two goal lead.

Oldham demonstrated typical Northern grit, refusing to give in and putting together some attacks of their own.  However, Michelle Wolfe and Nicky Hamstead were in control of the Grinstead defence, maintaining strong communication and positioning throughout. 

EG won several penalty corners but were unable to get past the Oldham defence, in particular their goalkeeper - who kept her side in the match.  However, shortly before half-time, the defence were split and Vicky Griffiths scored to take the EG lead to 3-0 at half-time.

The second half started less convincingly for EG, who looked a little disorganised and complacent on their three goal cushion.  Oldham almost scored a few times, but Ellie Farrow made some key interceptions in the circle, and Nikki Robinson was solid in goal.

The EG supporters were impressively vocal on the sideline, but 10 minutes into the second half, the umpire decided that one or two of the supporters (former Club Captain and Chairman) were not cheering in the spirit of the game and requested via the EG skipper that they “calm down”.

EG regained their focus and put together some good attacking moves down the right, with Pauline Joseph and Steph Baggett working well together.  JoJo Blunt and Briony Bray worked hard up front to create space and continued to cause problems for the Oldham defence.  14 minutes into the second half Pauline Joseph scored EG’s fourth goal, diving onto the end of a pass from Griffiths.

Two minutes later, Emma Pearson was rewarded for her hard work and patience with a goal, following excellent build-up play down the left from Lou Shaill and Helen Prinsloo.  By this stage EG were in total control but the match would not have been complete without an impressive individual goal from Baggett…which duly came 10 minutes from time.

The final score was 6-0 to EG.  They will face Sonning away on Sunday 9 March in the quarter finals of the competition.

Scorers: M Wolfe, B Bray, V Griffiths, P Joseph, E Pearson, S Baggett