Lekker met de meiden

This Saturday saw our Doves returning to defend the nest in their first home match since winter break. Coming off the back of a slight dry spell in the win department, the girls were keeeeen to conquer the opposition and reign supreme at home once again.

At 11.15 the squad was busy kitting up and ready to get stuck into a good game of footy, except for Shan who was still asleep. One phone call and 17 minutes later Shan emerged in the changing rooms, setting a new speed record for quickest transition from being horizontal in bed to vertical at Odyseuss ‘91. Captain Jutka also pleasantly surprised Jerry and the meiden with a sneaky return from Sri Lanka and a super lekker suntan. With the team complete and Lau’s ankles securely strapped, we launched into a thorough team talk and then headed out to do the business. The Ody DJ’s at the pitch have a bit of a nostalgic moment over the loud speaker and play a song about going through puberty for what seems like the entire warm up.

To describe this game in one sentence: it was a game of two halves. The first half was a tough slog for the Ody meiden. After 10 minutes, neither Sleeuwijk nor de Duifjes had had any major chances. The girls created a couple of opportunities up the wing with Jonne, Do and Camille overlapping. The 15^th minute saw de Duifjes concede a goal as the midfield and defence got dragged out of position, leaving an opposition striker free on the far post to drive the ball home. For the next 10 minutes the Doves worked hard, but Sleeuwijk was hungrier for the ball and applying high pressure. Once again Elke found herself in a tight spot in a 1 v 1 challenge with a striker, and it was ultimately a beaut save by Elke that kept the score at 1-0 (lekker Elke!!!). On the 33^rd minute, the meiden created a chance up front and Do had a crack on goal, but unfortunately to no avail. On the 35^th minute Sterre aka Hanna kits up and graces the field, substituting for Camille. We hit half time 1-0 down but determined to pull it together for round 2 in the second half.

The second half hit Sleeuwijk like an Ody code orange Ciara. Every dove upped her game and it looked like a new team out there. Dove Shan had been cooped up on the bench after her sleep in and was unleashed on the field in the 45th minute like a bat out of hell, hooning for every ball and the opposition defence was taken off guard. 2 minutes later, Shan stole the ball, and after a couple of passes Lau smashed a goal in from the far-right edge of the box. Lekker Lau!!!!! 3 minutes later Shan tries to walk through 2 more players and it actually works, but the keeper snatches the ball away. At the 54^th minute, Megan subs on for Do. At the 56^th, Cato makes an excellent run but it doesn’t quite come off.

The following 10 minutes were a blur of teamwork and determination for the Doves. Pim and Shan made a good combination, Pim’s there if you want if you need, and Pim scores, but unfortunately due to an offside it doesn’t count. Pim can really shoot a ball. See below for an acrostic poem dedicated to Pim:

Personable

Interesting

Magnificant

Back in our half, the game briefly turns into rugby. Marloes kicks 2 people over (possibly accidentally but probably not), Laura runs past a Sleeuwijk dame and gets tackled to the ground, and Marloes gets an elbow to the face and does a performance of the dying swan, painting her purple shirt a bit red. At the end of it all Cato sneezes and the ref awards a free kick against the Doves. The free kick is very dangerous and we almost concede.

Then, bang bang, two goals for the Doves in 4 minutes! Some super goed passing between Marloes, Lau and Shan sees Shan on the ball with tonnes of space and she slots it home. Cheeehoo!! The second goal is another beaut team goal: Lau slots it to Shan from deep in the field, Shan does a vague twerking/ballet piroquet motion and then suddenly is free, sksksksksks-ing toward the by-line, she crosses, and Eva is in perfect position and taps the ball home to score with perfect composure. The Sleeuwijk dames are a bit pissed off that that they are now 3-1 down and they start yelling at each other to kick certain doves over during the play. The Doves aren’t having any of this and keep the pressure on.

In the final minutes of extra time, the chaos gets the better of the Ody girls. We need to tiiiiighten uppppp. Sleeuwijk take a very good corner and score from point blank in the box. It’s 3-2 and the pressure is on with one more corner against us. Sleeuwijk takes the corner, Ody clears it, and the whistle blows. We hebben gerwonnen!!!! A great come back from the ody duifjes – lekker met de meiden.

MR