Another swim....and footy

With an 8pm footy kick off, I headed up to the pool early for another swim. The third in a week…this is becoming an addiction!

Only had time for quick swim so got straight into a 500m set, trying to concentrate on pulling my arms through quicker whilst ensuring that my arms enter the water wide rather than in front of my face. Comments that Catherine had made watching me at the weekend.

The pool was relatively quiet with only 3 others in my lane, which meant I was able to get into a good rhythm easily. Not quick, just smooth.

With one eye on the clock, I quickly repeated another 500m set, strangely feeling stronger during the second set than the first. About 12 minutes for each set for 1km in the water. I need to keep this up.

As per usual I made my way from the pool straight onto court to play footy.

We had a strong team out with Charlie the only absence. Apparently he damaged his cartilage playing touch the other week. Still, it was almost our first choice team.

We were playing The Bandits, a team that we lost to last season, and who had gone on to finish 5th, one place out of the play offs. A good test.

As usual, we started cagily with the first few minutes resembling a sparring battle between the 2 teams. They were clearly a well organised outfit with some good players. However, and after a few close shaves, we took the lead just before half time, staying 1-0 up into the break.

We started the second half well, and quickly went 2-0 up before immediately letting them back in with a sloppy goal. The next few minutes saw chances at both ends before we took a stranglehold on the game with 2 quick goals to lead 4-1 with about 8 minutes left. They again pulled one back quickly, but we managed to hold on relatively easily to run out 4-2 winners. A good performance by the guys against a team that has previously beaten us. Of particular encouragement is the willingness to defend and get behind the ball. It’s taken a while! Good to have Rich back in the team too after a while out.