Sandy battle to draw at high-fliers

The first few minutes were fairly even but gradually Sandy got the upper hand and were pressing hard from about 10 minutes onwards. Then on 16 minutes Sandy went in front when Amber laid it off to Katie who struck the ball hard into the bottom left hand corner.

Unfortunately, almost from the kick off Sherrardswood were awarded a penalty following a foul and they equalised on 17 minutes.

Claire, Alicia, Chloe R and Chloe B started in defence and were very solid with Amie encouraging from behind and as always being very pro-active in goal.

Jade came on for Chloe B after 23 minutes purely to make sure everyone got as much football as possible and Chloe came back on at half time for the whole of the second half – this was only her fourth match at Open Age and she played really well the whole time she was on the pitch, and earned the Player of the Match award as a result.

The midfield started with Katie and Loren on the wings supporting Jenny and Kayleigh and all worked really hard both helping the defence and supporting Amber and Faye up front.

Jenny hit the post on 24 minutes, Amber, Katie, Kayleigh, Faye and Loren all had shots but Sandy couldn’t restore their lead.

In the second half it was end to end and could have gone either way but a great chip from Chloe put Amber through for an excellent finish on 59 minutes to put Sandy back in front.

Sherrardswood are currently second in the league and were very determined not to lose to the bottom placed club and put Sandy under tremendous pressure for long spells. The visitors were restricted to a few breaks but the defence and goalie were excellent helped by the midfielders as well.

On 85 minutes Sherrardswood equalised with a terrific shot that flew into the top corner giving keeper Amie no chance at all.

The last five minutes were back to end to end as Sandy tried to reclaim the lead while the home team looked for a winner but it stayed two apiece until the final whistle.

The point was enough to lift Sandy off the bottom as well so a great effort from the whole team.

Sandy: Amie Fage, Claire Ashwell, Alicia Cobb, Chloe Reeves, Chloe Barton (Jade Anderson), Katie Seldon, Kayleigh Bennett, Jenny Holt, Loren Ellard, Amber Willaims & Faye Prout.

Sandy do not have another league match until March 20 when they are at home to Letchworth Gardn City Eagles with a 2pm kick off at Sandy Upper School.

For the second year running Sandy Ladies put a team in the Biggleswade Swimathon to raise money for the various things the Rotary Club supports in the area and for Diabetes UK.

The five team members Pearl, Karen, Chloe, Sophie and Amber along with the team manager’s granddaughter Megan managed a terrific 117 lengths in 50 minutes of continuous relay type swimming. It was a great team effort and looks like raising £350 to be split equally between the Rotary Club and Diabetes UK.