A game full of excitement, drama, controversy and good play saw the Pumas spring straight back into league action.

A positive first half where the girls were creating chances with Millie, Bella, Erin and Sophie all trying their luck but finding the Heanor Keeper doing her best to keep the scores level. Millie whipped in a couple of corners which caused mayhem but still that goal was elusive in coming! At the back, Lily was having a quiet day thanks to Ivy, Poppy, Umayyah and Mini all doing a good job restricting a good Heanor team to very little whilst Enya, Dela, Bella, Millie and Marcie were working tirelessly in Midfield with Poppy backing them up. Sophie and Erin were working hard upfront getting used to the offside rule and eagle eyed linesman!

Then with a couple of minutes before half time came the first controversial (and I’m sure not the last) decision of the season, Bella picked up a loose ball, drifted inside a defender and let fly from 25 yards, the ball took a deflection off the defenders head and sent the ball looping over the keeper. As the girls celebrated, the linesman put his flag up for an offside??? Between the ref and the linesman they had agreed one of our strikers who was 20 yards away from goal was obstructing the keepers view.

This though fuelled the girls and they took a deserved lead when Bella opened the scoring with a trademark dancing run, gliding past 3 defenders, she applied a tidy finish. And you guessed it, the flag went up for offside again! This time though the referee awarded the goal given that Bella had scored the goal when picking the ball up 30 yards away from goal and ran at the defenders.

Now they were up and running and it soon became two when Erin scored from close range following a scramble. Then another twist, a failure to clear a ball found the Heanor striker bundling through our defenders and brought the score back to 2-1. 2-1, soon became 2-2 as we played a little bit of a risky ball and they closed down to pinch the ball and make it 2-2. The girls could easily have rolled over but that’s not their style, and Erin bagged her second of the game with a neat turn and finish past the keeper. Hoping to see the game out, Heanor had other ideas, and with 8 minutes left, they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, which Bella T could not do nothing about when she saw it fly into the corner.

Then up stepped Poppy, on her debut for the club, she won a ball near halfway, closed down by 2 players, she just drifted past them, taking a couple of nice touches, she got closer to the box and unleashed an effort arrowing into the bottom corner. With 6 minutes to go, the girls saw these minutes out really well defending well and eventually getting the first win under their belts.

For a first game back after a while, some really good positive performances from the girls but the parents voted Poppy as their player of the match after a very assured first appearance and first goal for the club.