Thirsk arrived at Harrogate's back-up pitch to find the home team organisation in disarray. 9 players, no keeper, no masks, adult unsure of the Development League rules. Assistance from Thirsk would have been easier if some of these problems had been communicated in advance, but Thirsk quickly persuaded 2 spectators to play a second game and allocated 2 of its squad to play in blue, to provide meaningful opposition. Given the lack of a Harrogate keeper, the teams agreed that Thirsk would not be trying reverse strikes, which caused some confusion when Harrogate opened the scoring like that. Short corners were replaced with long corners until the masks arrived.
The slightly older all-male Harrogate line up congregated fairly centrally leaving lots of space for the Thirsk wider players, but that did not open up much penetration to the D in the first half. Equally, Harrogate were generally toothless in the final quarter as both sides' strong defences snuffed out most of the attacks.
Coach Steve must have had some wise words at half time as Thirsk suddenly started to threaten the goal with each attack. In scenes reminiscent of Ben Rhydding (below), Thirsk opened the scoring through defensive error. Steve's long through ball to Brody was only deflected by Patrick leaving Bronwyn unable to tackle her brother before he scored, although she did admit she could have flattened him. The second Thirsk goal was somewhat similar to the first. Strong play throughout the match from Molly and Monty, but Brody took the Player of the Match honours for expert goal-hanging. Final score 2-1 win.
Thanks to the 11 who returned to Harrogate for teas, unlike the 1 player from the home team. Poor form, start to finish.
Addendum - against Ben Rhydding in December, the final play of the game was a Thirsk short corner, well struck by receiver Monty at the top of the D, but heading wide of goal until Patrick deflected it past Maisy for the Thirsk winner. Perhaps the opposition teams should note that Patrick is not a natural defender.