Josh expains how the hell we won while only scoring 1.4 goals a game

After a week which City (well, me) spent worrying over whether we would manage to get a full team together for the latest South West second team tournament, we eventually arrived in Bristol with enough girls for two teams. We only had 5 blokes, but at least that allowed Dave and Josh to rest their ageing limbs on a couple of occasions.

The tournament was in a round-robin league format, which, in the event of a tie for first place would be awarded on the basis of the results between the tieing teams rather than on goal difference. Terry spent much of the drive there chuntering on about the ridiculousness of this rule.

Our first game pitted us against Bristol University 1, one of two sides from the uni. City began sluggishly and ended up being beaten 0-4. Even when we thought a positive had emerged with Lee marking his debut by sinking a nice shot from close in, it was ruled out by a questionable defended-shot call.

Lee swiftly made amends in the second game though, scoring what turned out to be the only goal in a win against Exeter. Having to defend for the whole game, Ian, Eleri, Sian and Terry defended superbly to keep a clean sheet.

The third game saw Cardiff play the other Bristol Uni side and we started well, Dave's running in shot providing an early lead. As both sides missed several opportunities another 1-0 victory seemed likely until Bristol managed to grab an equaliser. With not much time remaining, Cardiff needed to respond immediately and did exactly that. A rapid changeover, one pass and a Terry long shot later and Cardiff had regained the lead. We then protected our advantage with our usual cunning tactic of hurling the ball wildly across the court.

Terry continued his fine shooting from against Horfield to open the scoring, but Horfield responded well to draw level. After that Cardiff's defence again took control and following Cally's running-in shot, City were firmly in control, even if we were unable to add to our score.

Three consecutive victories combined with some favourable results elsewhere meant that City entered the last game with a chance of victory. Bristol City had been dominant up until then, winning all their games and scoring 13 goals to 1 against, while City's goal difference was still in negative after our first match setback. But, in an irony worthy of an Alanis Morissette lyric, the rules that so upset our great leader were now working in our favour. If Cardiff City beat Bristol City, the tournament would be ours.

Against an experienced Bristol side, Cardiff fell behind and were struggling to find a way to breach a tough defence. Finally Sian managed to get behind her marker and (sensibly ignoring Josh yelling at her to pass) neatly grabbed the equaliser. With nerves beginning to affect Bristol (due to Cardiff's organisational inefficiency, we had no idea we could win the tournament and were thus very relaxed), Cardiff began to get on top and Dave's goal put us into the lead. As Cardiff's defence again performed exceptionally, Bristol were restricted to long shots, and although some fell tantalisingly close, none dropped into the basket. Final Score, 2-1 to Cardiff and, much to our surprise, we were the tournament victors.

As well as the satisfaction of winning the tournament, other positives included the excellent defensive skills shown by our newer players, which severely restricted the opportunities for our opponents who often featured several first teamers. It was also good to see Cally returning to competetive action and surviving unscathed.

Terry, the one man defensive wall

Cally looks for a way through

Everyone waits for Josh's shot to come down

Taff on his way up

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