Quite a long, blustery drive out to Maldon this week. The postcode always seems to confuse some satnavs and poor Lula, only a week after passing her driving test, was sucked into the labyrinths of a nearby estate for quite some time, popping up at the pitch part way through the first half. To be fair, this was a great deal better than older sister Penna had fared, some years before. (She did a grand tour of various Essex villages en route - sadly, none of them Maldon.)

Anyway, we managed a 2-1 win. It could, and should, have been a much higher score, as we put a lot of pressure on the Maldon goal and had the majority of possession, especially in the first half.

Our main opponent this week, though, was the cold, wet and extremely windy weather which was storm Darragh. (From a personal perspective my hands have never been so frozen and useless on a hockey pitch before.)

Lara, despite earning a pre-match DoD for forgetting her hockey shoes, was as energetic as ever in Susy's gripless spare ones, and popped a goal in during the first half. We waited quite some time for our second, which was a cracker of a short corner strike from Susy, who was on fine form.

There was a spread of votes for our MoM, but Isla triumphed for her limitless energy, determination and constructive play as centre mid. Well deserved.

It must be said that Maldon grew bolder as the second half progressed, encroaching much more into our half and forcing a few short corners. Something to watch out for next time around.

Very welcome sausages, chips, sandwiches and hot chocolates were on offer in the cosy pub nearby, after the game. The little pug dog lives on.

Well done team for even getting there, let alone winning, in such unpleasant weather.

Jane