After a tough result the week before, the ladies 2s welcomed 3rd place Marden Russets determined to show their bouncebackability. Ops set their stall out early and were ready to take their opportunities to shock the high-flying Marden side. Ops came out of the blocks hard and were the better side creating more attacking opportunities in the first 10 minutes however Marden soon find their rhythm and started to push back to try and assert themselves on the game however Ops’ defensive organisation was on point with the partnership of Erin Fuller & Sophie Rumsey keeping the Marden attack at bay. The oncoming Marden pressure finally found purchase with them winning a series of short corners where the first 3 were excellently kept out but the 4th managed to scramble it’s way in giving Marden the lead at half time.
Ops went into the second half determined to get themselves back in the game with Lily Rockall & Charlotte Rawlins finding space to attack down the right hand side and starting to put pressure on the Marden back line. The Ops pressure finally paid off when Evie Little won a short corner by driving at the Marden defence and the initial strike finding a foot to win a another short. Ops identified the space in the defensive set up and as the ball came out to Livy Cheap she slipped the ball to Allegra Hopkinson who played it back to Cheap who swept the ball across to Adrienne Rowe on the back post who coolly flicked the ball past the Marden keeper on her reverse stick. Marden were rattled and came out hard to try and reclaim the lead. Ops kept them at bay but they won a short corner which found an Ops foot on the line resulting in a penalty stroke. Ops keeper Amy Bumstead was determined not to let them take the lead and with a dramatic dive to the right forced the ball wide of the goal. This rejuvenated the Ops team, giving them the energy they needed to keep their work rate up for the rest of the game and come out with a well deserved draw.