3s vs New Beccs

Another afternoon start where Maidstone found it hard to find their groove and New Beccs took full advantage to go 1-0 up inside the first 10 minutes with a rising shot that Freya bravely nearly saved.
Maidstone were a little agitated by the nature of NB's goal began to play with a bit more fire and began to create better opportunities. Jaime and Bea combining down the right, Nikki and Freya down the left and Hannah and Katie beginning to gain control in the middle. This allowed for Ellie and Bethan to make some dynamic forward runs and we were rewarded shortly before half time when Smithy stopped trying to be fancy at short corners and levelled the score with a clean strong strike.
Maidstone began to take more control in the second half and had some excellent opportunities only to be thwarted by some dubious decisions, Bethan was extremely unlucky to have a goal ruled out for us to be awarded a free hit.
New Beccs had a few breaks but Lu was outstanding and didn't let much get through and if it did, Vicky certainly wasn't going to let another goal go in with the great form she has been in.
Maidstone eventually deservedly took the lead when some excellent play by the teams youngsters resulted in a penalty flick being awarded which Smithy calmly converted.
With just a few minutes left to play Maidstone were unlucky not to extend their lead when a great cross from Nikki was met by Bea running in at the right post, the ball clearly crossed the line before the NB's defence scrambled the ball away, decision, no goal. Still Maidstone controlled the last few minutes to ensure the all round team effort earnt us 3 well deserved points.
Match Report by Julie Davies