The visitors to Udney Park on a moist first morning of winter were Milford Pumas, a curate’s egg of a team whose six First Division games had yielded two wins and three defeats, 20 goals scored and 18 conceded.
With Amy Hallett, Saskia Brewster and Ella Bothamley away, Teddington made changes. Millie MacEacharn, so diligent at right-back against Wimbledon, switched left to cover Sas; Anna Kauffmann returned on the right, with Millie Theobald and Hannah Hutchison continuing their centre-back partnership. Carla Novakovic rejoined Liz Kriebel in patrolling midfield behind the returning Giulia Clini, Emily Coulson reverting to the left side with Sadie Day starting on the right; Ale Fairn started up top, with Ella Dodd joining Emily Bashford on the bench.
As a deliberate ploy to help these growing young women sort out their own decisions, the Teddington coaches started the match quietly. So did the Teddington players. It took seven minutes for the first spark of life: Liz chasing a ball down to the right corner flag, her cross picking out Ale’s good diagonal run across the defender to the front post, but the striker’s mid-air flick went just wide of the post.
That prompted a flurry of half-attempts, with Em’s ambitious left-foot effort from distance followed by Liz again ghosting past a defender and shooting wide. Milford replied by breaking through a somewhat under-organised Teddington backline; Ruby Rudkin was quick off her line to intercept. It wouldn’t be the last such incident the goalkeeper, thoroughly rested after a 12-hour kip following a Friday night flight home, would have to get involved in.
Up the other end, Teddington were probing the Pumas. Bustling down the left in the 14th minute, Em pulled back for the supporting Carla; her cross bypassed Ale for a Liz snapshot from the edge, just over the bar.
A minute later, from more or less the same spot, Teddington took the lead with a good team goal. Liz pressed the issue from midfield and crossed for Ale; the ball was a bit behind the striker but she had the vision and support to calmly set up for Giulia, lurking behind her in the penalty arc, to equally calmly side-foot into the bottom-left corner.
Going a goal up helped the team to relax. Sadie looked increasingly confident, frequently putting her foot on the ball to assess her options. Coffee began to enjoy the freedom to push on afforded to the full-backs by Teddington’s new system. In the middle, Liz was winning her one-on-ones and starting to boss the game; one through-ball sent Ale through, with the goalkeeper relieved to grab her clever early lob.
But there is a balance to be struck with being relaxed. One Milford knock over the top caught Hutch, usually dominant, on her heels; Ruby again had to come out and mop up, forcing the striker into a first-time effort the goalie saved with her midriff. Then just after the half-hour, Teddington overplayed a little in the wrong area.
In fairness, Liz probably had the right idea in mind by recycling backwards to Macca, but the Milford trio who had put the midfielder under pressure merely sprinted on to harass the left-back and dispossess her. Again, Ruby came out to do the sweeper-keeper job to which she is adapting impressively well, but on this occasion the striker got there first and Ruby caught her with a tackle. A stricter referee might have called that a last-man foul, although it seemed far from malicious, and a footballing punishment was meted out as the surefooted No.15 sent the free-kick sailing superbly into the roof of the net.
Milford’s delight – and Teddington’s surprise – at the equaliser could have caused a difficult last 10 minutes of the half. As it was, the home side threatened, but only sporadically, and trooped in at half-time somewhat wary of the expected telling-off.
Instead, the girls were calmly reminded that they simply needed to force the issue by working a bit harder for each other: being first to the ball, having the courage to win their one-v-ones. That commenced within 30 seconds of the restart, helped by two superb subs keen to make their own point.
A lovely self-effacing character, Emily Bashford is more aware of her limitations than her capabilities; the same cannot be said for the full-backs she terrorises. Right from the whistle she tore down the right wing, into the box for a physical confrontation with the left-back; the ball bounced clear to Doddsy, whose quickfire shot forced the goalkeeper to push wide for the first of what might have been a dozen corners in the second period.
Another genuine pleasure to coach, Doddsy was involved again a minute later, running onto Liz’s alley-ball behind the left-back to shoot across the face of goal. Four corners in four minutes later, the goalkeeper again kept Milford level with a point-blank save from Giulia.
However, Giulia would again get the better of the netter when Teddington made the breakthrough after 12 minutes of relentless pressure. Winning the ball in the centre circle, Hutch spread the ball wide right to Bash. Most girls wouldn’t have got there but Bash did, not just stopping the ball on the touchline but crossing to Giulia, who from 15 yards again picked out the bottom-left corner.
Even when Milford got as far as the Teddington back line, they were seconds from danger. Millie T snuffing out a putative attack in the centre-circle allowed Liz to collect the ball and find Doddsy with a deft daisy-cutting vertical; the centre-forward superbly flicked round the corner for Bash to run on to, shooting from the edge and forcing the goalkeeper to concede yet another corner.
The only surprise was that it took until the 65th minute for Teddington to open up clear water on the scoresheet. Scoring with a technically excellent shot from the edge of the box, Liz had been picked out gorgeously by Em, who worked hard down by left corner flag, looked up, had the vision and ability to lay the ball back to the amiable American.
That gave Teddington a two-goal cushion but they weren’t sitting back on it, so three minutes later 3-1 became 4-1. Anna and Liz calmly worked triangles down right before the Dane sent the American clear to cross for Emily, who expertly timed her run to the middle of the six-yard box and calmly volleyed home. That makes it seven goals in seven games, more than she managed in last season’s 18 appearances. She’s also scored in five of the last six fixtures, which is no bad habit to have – and the reason she is now Teddington’s all-time leading scorer, her 53rd club goal taking her clear of Phoebe Head (who sat in civvies on the bench, cheering on her friends).
It’s to Milford’s great credit that they didn’t give up, with Ruby involved twice in a minute – smothering one shot before pawing one way from danger. The second-tier team have some good players, confident on the ball, and play the game in the right fashion.
They don’t have Carla Novakovic, though, and in the 74th minute the skipper did something she hadn’t done in 30 games since March 2015: she scored. Harrying the visitors all the way into the area, she didn’t hang about when the ball popped up 12 yards out, lashing it home left-footed before celebrating with what can only be described as a smiling version of a shrug emoji – head cocked to one side, palms upturned, innocent face saying “Who, me?”
Ale and Sadie were given another run-out, replacing Em and Giulia with Bash going left and Doddsy into advanced midfield – but it was Liz who had the last word, driving a left-footer across the goalkeeper with two minutes remaining. That was harsh on Milford, who didn’t deserve a 6-1 loss, but Teddington simply cruised past them in the second half. As Milford coach Lee was heard to say admiringly to one of his charges, “these girls are a different kettle of fish to what you get in our division”.
They’re also a different team to last year’s TAFC. They have their problems, namely an occasional lack of application, but they have conceded fewer goals than after the same number of games last term. At the other end, they’re regularly showing they are capable of thrilling combination attacking play. They are also sharing the goals around more: four different girls have scored at least three goals (and had she been available against Milford, Boz would quite possibly have joined them), whereas last season only Phoebe, Ale and Boz had got more than one.
They will face harder tasks than this. Up next is Abbey Rangers, who beat them on the opening day, and who will doubtless threaten from well-drilled set-pieces. But if Teddington continue to stay on the front foot, they can put the frighteners on any team from Halloween to May Day.
TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Hannah Hutchison, Millie Theobald, Millie MacEacharn, Liz Kriebel (2), Carla Novakovic (1), Sadie Day, Giulia Clini (2), Emily Coulson (1), Ale Fairn. Subs: Emily Bashford, Ella Dodd
Thanks to David Theobald and Catherine Clini for images
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