Waide hat-trick seals win for Carrick Ladies

While still pre-season, this was an important result for Carrick, delivering as it did their first goals and win of their recently commenced pre-season campaign.

“We were disappointed in our previous match, our first of the pre-season, not to have found the net against Civil Service,” said Carrick coach Neil McConnell after the match. “They are of course a Senior One side so that was always going to be a difficult game for us, but I was keen for the girls to get into the habit of scoring goals right from the outset and while we didn’t get off the mark against Civil Service, we certainly put that right today.

“Christine Waide’s hat-trick included two goals from penalty corners and one from open play while Lois Passmore also scored from open play, so we’re happy from that perspective.

“We’re not of course reading too much into any pre-season result as everyone tends to try out new players and new playing patterns at this stage of the year, so it’s impossible to gauge how much stronger Grosvenor are likely to be when the season commences in earnest; I’m quite sure they will be.

“From the point of view of building confidence through some consistent goal scoring, today was good. We probably could and should have had a higher strike-rate from the number of penalty corners we won and we were a bit lack lustre in that respect early on,” Neil added. “We’ll need to work on that but we got better as the game went on and Christine Waide’s two penalty corner conversions both came from well-worked set-piece team efforts.

“In addition to our goal scoring, I was pleased with our defensive performance and our midfield endeavour. The whole back line played extremely well and Robyn Poots certainly impressed at right-back, standing in for Sophie Mills who wasn’t available.

“I know Robyn was a bit nervous in this, her first outing for the first-team squad, but she settled quickly, tackled soundly, and produced some excellent lay-offs along the right side. Emma Boal at left-back delivered her usual masterful performance and looks impressively fit for so early in the season while Lois Passmore and Julie Oliver were their usual composed selves.

“Fitness levels are coming on all round but there’s still plenty to be done in this respect and it’s important as always that the girls push themselves to the limit in both training and matchplay.”

The game saw plenty of hard work from midfield and forwards including Amy Cross, Katie Houston, Natasha McWilliams and Christine Waide, Neil indicated. “Up front, Chloe Mitchell at centre-forward, Jill Leslie and Emma Nichols on the right, and Kerry Erskine and Caris Greenwood on the left also did some serious running and harrying,” he added.

“Their joint efforts put Grosvenor under a lot of pressure, causing them to concede a series of penalty corners that eventually lead to two of our goals. That’s exactly what I’ll be looking for when the season proper kicks off next month.”