A new look, youthful (bar 2 or 3) women’s 2s welcomed Marden for their season opener. Ops put together a great start with the team looking confident moving the ball across the pitch and finding space in behind a high pressing opposition. The home side had the first chances of the game, testing the Marden goalkeeper after fantastic build up play through all the lines. As the half progressed Marden started to come into the game and despite resolute defensive work were able to win a series of short corners with one finally finding it’s way in to give them the half time lead.

Midway through the second half, Poppy Rockall stormed into the Marden D after taking a quick free hit, bamboozling the defenders and dropping the ball on a foot to win a short corner. While youth won the cor-ner, experience finished it off with captain Adrienne Rowe converting from a textbook routine. It’s often said that the normal time to concede is just after you’ve scored and Ops proved this true with Marden scoring on a quick breakaway just moments later. Despite a fantastic work rate from the side, Marden were able to grab a third. Ops never gave up though and carried on chasing down every ball until the final whistle. Not the result but a very promising first performance for this refreshed line up.