Leicester players celebrate Anne Panter's winning penalty shoot out goal.It was a damp and miserable day in Wassenaar for the all-England semi final between Slough and Leicester in the Women's Club Champions Cup.
Even before the match started the black clouds started to form and the sound of thunder rolled around the ground. Eventually the thunder started to close in and TD Howard Pollard took the sensible decision to take the players off for their safety. It coincided with the heavens opening and the rain started to come down in proverbial stair rods. The few brave souls who had turned up to watch the match may have taken the break as a bit of light relief in what had until then being a match short on entertainment.
In the early encounters Leicester kept Slough pinned back in their own half but as the match progressed Slough became more assertive. But first blood went to Leicester's Katie Long after 15 minutes. Leicester managed to hold onto their lead until just before half time, thanks in part to some excellent play by their Maddie Hinch between the sticks. Slough's goal, when it came, was from a penalty corner conversion from Chloe Strong.
The rain returned for a thoroughly miserable second half. The two teams were too evenly matched and know each other too well to spring any surprises. So we reached full time and two periods of extra time with the score still at 1-1, and we were into a one-on-one shoot out decider, something of a new innovation in the women's game.
As the Women's Club Champions Cup is the poor relation of the EuroHockey League, we do not have the benefit of a stadium announcer, which is why we were all in the dark about Slough's opening attempt in the shoot-out. Was it a goal or wasn't it? It appears it wasn't and only Leicester's Chloe Rogers and Anne Panter were successful in the shoot-out, giving their side a 2-0 lead.
So Leicester qualify for Sunday's final, where things are likely to get a whole lot tougher. We are awaiting the result of the second semi-final between Den Bosch and Laren at the moment. Slough will still have a chance of a medal when they meet the losers of that match tomorrow.
