South Berkshire Girls U14s got the season off to an excellent start with a strong 2-1 victory over an impressive Marlow side in their first pre-season friendly of the year. With new girls, new positions, new tactics and new coaches it was the first chance to put training practice into a real game environment and the whole team set themselves high standards for the season with a monumental effort on their first outing.

From the start it was clear that it wasn't just the heat that was going to make Marlow sweat, as South Berkshire began with a confident swagger across the pitch. The defence was quick to lay down a marker, with some excellent positional awareness and determined tackling. In the centre, Maribel Harvey and Elle Bowbanks displayed calm authority in marshalling the defence, whilst both girls brought a steely edge to their tackling. Alongside them Abigail Waters slotted in at left back and did well to marshall a pacey right sided attack for much of the goal. On the right, Eden Berdat played with a confidence which belied her status as one of the newer players in the squad, as she kept her attackers quiet throughout the game, and proved an effective outlet for attacking moves down the right.

Key to the South Berkshire performance was the energy and dynamism of across the midfield. Faye Rowley, moving forward from a defensive role in previous seasons, gave the side a hard running engine in the middle of the park. Quick to close down danger in front of her defence, she was relentless in turning defence into quick attack. Alongside her, Catriona Wood matched her workrate and demonstrated huge potential as she adapted to an attacking midfield role for the first time, and showed a confidence on the ball and a willingness to get her head up and feed passes forwarded.

A regular outlet for passes was Grace Bull, who worked hard down the left hand side and on a number of occasions a combination of stick trickery and hard running opened up the Marlow defence. Equally impressive was Olivia Deakin, who was tigerish and determined in her battle against a skillful Marlow midfield. As a unit, the South Berkshire midfield ran themselves to the point of exhaustion on a hot day, and set the tone for the whole team in commitment and teamwork.

Finally, the forward line for South Berkshire set out their stall as an attacking force, as all three players created chances through the game. Claudia-Ann Sleator had a fine game on the right side of attack, creating three fantastic chances when she drove down the right and cut back an impressive pass. It was a no more than her performance deserved when the Claudia slotted in the first goal for South Berkshire after some excellent build up play down the right wing.

At centre forward, Freya Neave was a key pivot for the team, bringing control to the front line and using some sharp stick skills to open play up. She was unlucky in the second half not to add to South Berkshire's goal tally when a sweetly struck shot wizzed just wide of the left post. Finally, Annabella Pio had a excellent game, getting the Marlow defence regularly on the back foot when she received passes and turned quickly to attack. Bella and Claudia were definitely on the same wave length throughout the game, and it was an excellent move down the right that saw Claudia drive the ball across the D where Bella steered the ball in skillfully past the Marlow keeper to bring the South Berkshire lead to two.

Having played so well to get a 2-0 lead, South Berkshire briefly threatened to falter, as Marlow stole a goal back and then put pressure on South Berkshire for a sustain 10 minute period. It looked like the tide might turn at this point, as the side briefly lost their structure and allowed Marlow to begin to launch waves of attacks. Fortunately, when the defence was breached, Lucy Cochran was on hand with one of her best displays in goal for South Berkshire. A match highlight came with 15mins to play, when Lucy made five consecutive saves, twice from only yards out from the goal, before the ball was scrambled clear.

As the final minutes approached the girl's dug deep despite the intense heat. They got the structure back to their game, focused again on simple passes, and run hard to close down in midfield and pressure the Marlow defence at every opportunity. When the whistle blew, it was an exhausted but elated team to leave the pitch. Marlow were a strong side, with some impressive individual players, but South Berkshire set down a marker for the season with their team effort today. To a girl, they pushed themselves harder than many probably thought they could, and they were brave and bold in closing down players and making tackles. They were willing runners throughout, supporting each other with their commitment to push forward in attack but then work back whenever they lost the ball. For a team playing their first game of the season, it was a really impressive performance, and it was clear that as a team, they have shown they can take on board the skills and gameplay from training sessions and put them into practice in games. Credit to all the girls today - every single player should be rightly proud of the effort they put in, the teamwork they displayed, and the hockey ability they displayed across the pitch.