Greetings ladies, this is your weekly hockey match report brought to you by Blondie.

After a gathering of vibrant new players and some keen groupies at Thame leisure centre, (ie, the Mums) we finally tracked down Lucy and headed to Amersham.

On our long walk down the path to the pitch we were blessed with a beautiful, brown furry mascot known to many as Barnie. He even took part in Julie's personal warm up by slobbering all over her face with that long pink tongue of his.

Many new faces joined us today for the first time and showed fantastic potential! These include, Chloe, Ella, Helena, Lucy and Lizzie. Welcome to the club. We are VERY excited to have you join the squad, with so many golden oldies on the squad, err, I mean mature, experienced players, we'll certainly benefit from some fresh legs!

Poor Ella suffered from travel sickness but nonetheless was cheering us on from the sideline together with Barnie and Mum.

After a bit of organisation we finally pushed back.

Thame started strong but not for long. Amersham came in from every angle and knew how to run with the ball. Thanks to our strong defence, ie Julie and Kate, and Anneliese in goal, we avoided a quick defeat. Kate did a splendid job communicating for everyone and made some super strong passes up the field. Later in the game I was exposed to a confession by our, (huh hum, 'captain' Julie?!) that she'd cleared a ball off the line with her foot!! Thankfully it wasn't seen by the referee which meant she had to smile and walk away fine and dandy straight after as opposed to teary-eyed and 'ouch ouch ouch'. Well done Julie!

With Henny pushing back to Lizzie after each goal we were off once more. Lynne hit a cracker, putting it past the post, sadly on the wrong side of the post but we were getting closer to scoring.

By now, we were down around 4 - 0 and wondering how they could be soooo good...??? It was only after the match Julie revealed they were in the league above us!!!

After many free hits given away from forgetting the five metre pass rule, Julie saves yet another goal.....by accidentally falling into their best player in front of the goal. I believe the quote was "She was NEVER going to get that ball!!!" Nice job, good effort!

Emily, Henny and Lynne worked tightly together in up front, whilst others simply tried to get there and help them without passing out...(ie, me). Emily looked determined and won many tricky tackles. She wanted that ball!

Despite save after save from Anneliese and her giant foam feet, we eventually lost our friendly around 5-0 or something like that (I've lost count) but hey, it's the taking part that counts!!!

Man of the match went to the lovely Lizzie who still had a smile on her face after the game whilst the rest of us flaked out under the tree. Helena and Chloe made some great moves on the right and after a confusing start Lucy really made her presence known during the 3rd period.

On the return to our cars our cute mascot decided to check out an oncoming bulldog only for them to get jiggy together and full blown war broke out. Whilst everyone stood and watched in horror as the bulldog grabbed poor Barnie by the neck, Julie jumped in between the two and we nearly lost her to the giant hedge. It was a close shave but following a remarkable come back, she grabbed both herself and Barnie, did a full backflip, half pike and backwards rolly-poley and all was well. Thankfully no blood was drawn. For her efforts, John, our umpire awarded her a 6.2 on his flapper board. Congratulations, you almost hit a "SEVEN".

After all this excitement, only now does the tournament begin!!!