Match Report

Antrim Ladies 1sts v Westside 2nds

Wednesday 1 October

Antrim Forum

Final Score: Westside 2nds (44)- Antrim 2nds (24)

The Antrim Ladies Firsts sides were unsure of what to expectfor the first match of their season, having never played Westside 2nds before, particularly with the Westside 1sts team being very strong in the Premier Division.

The firsts team had also undergone a few changes from last year’s team with new player, Laura McFadden, taking the Centre bib and Terri Simpson going into Goal Attack(with last year’s GA being off on “maternity leave”). This match also saw Captain, Claire Stewart, returning for her first competitive match as Goal Shooter after being off due to an injured shoulder last year.

The match got off to a very fast-paced start with Westside showing their speed of play, finding their shooters in the circle quite easily at this stage. It took Antrim some time to adjust to this and to their opponents’ centre passes, which appeared to be the same every time. Antrim was 13-5 down by quarter time.

No changes were made to let the girls adjust to each other and their opponents at the break, with the second quarter being almost a repeat of the first.

At half time, Vicki Simpson came on in Goal Defence, with Chloe Allen switching to Wing Defence. Chloe made some great interceptions and was able to unsettle the Westside girls in their centre passes. The third quarter was much stronger for Antrim, coming away with a score of 35-20 after Claire and Terri played well together in the shooting semi-circle, with Claire playing a very supportive role for her team mate, creating shields to block the defenders from marking Terri when marking and using the short shooter-to-shooter pass very well.

The last quarter wasn’t quite as strong for Antrim with passing accuracy starting to drop and errors being made. Although with a final score of 24-44, Antrim Firsts will take one point away from this match for being within 50% of their opponent’s score.

Antrim would also like to say a huge thank you to their new (and first ever!) sponsor, Simpson Developments Ltd from Ballyclare, and to its owner, Nigel Simpson, for coming on board!! With their Active Community Coach, Dawn Baxter, sadly leaving her post and with a flourishing junior section in need of additional training times, this support is very much welcomed at this time to help Antrim Ladies continue to run and improve as a club.