After a confident warm up, the women’s 1st hockey team looked positive to begin the season against Nottingham on a high. Birmingham started strong and saw most of the possession early on although they struggled to find a way through to goal.
Nottingham were unable to keep the ball for any length of time as defensive solidity from Birmingham and excellent tackles.
The lasting pressure against the Nottingham defence won a short corner for Birmingham but the attempt was blocked by an excellent save from the keeper. The follow up attempt was scooped narrowly over the bar. Birmingham won the ball back immediately but the keeper again made a great save on the edge of the D.
Another UoB short corner was saved but unfortunately a foul was called against the home team.
The score remained 0-0 at half time, with the frustrated Lionesses unfortunate not to be in the lead.
As the teams restarted after half time, Nottingham seemed to have made the most of their team talk and now appearing a lot more confident than durung the first half. A short corner attempt from Nottingham was blocked well by Birmingham but the follow up attempt managed to find the back of the net. 1-0 to Nottingham.
It didn’t take long for the Lionesses to respond with an excellent short corner which is was initially saved by the keeper but twon back and worked into the goal. The game was a lot more open at this point in the match with both teams level, taking it in turns to attack each other.
A very scrappy Nottingham short corner was deflected into the goal shortly before full time after the ball was contested back and forth by both teams within the D. An unfortunate and undeserving way for Birmingham to concede.
With the final score at 2-1 to Nottingham, Birmingham can still look forward to the next game with confidence as they continue to grow with what looks like a very promising team.
