On Sunday the Matamata Women's Soccer team traveled away to Cambridge to compete in the first round of the Uncle Toby's Knockout Cup, the Women's equivalent to the men's Chatham Cup.

Currently Cambridge is at the top of their Division (Waikato A), so Matamata knew it was going to be a battle and also a learning curve for the new team. So taking this into consideration Matamata did not expect to win but were going to give it their best shot.

At the start of the game the weather cleared up thankfully and it was down to business. The opening minutes saw Matamata settle into their game quickly, which made Cambridge realise that this was going to be no walk in the park.

Matamata played a very strong backline with Nat Gaskell and Jenn Wild in at the Centre backs and Jo Good and Bogga Jonsdottir as full backs. They worked very well together and shut down the Cambridge strikers very quickly and closed down many opportunities that they had at goal.

Keeper Jenn Hull handled the pressure like a trooper making some awesome saves, one in particular saw her diving out to her right and getting a hand to the ball to save the goal.

It took Cambridge just over 20 mins to break the line and score the first goal of the game. Matamata kept their heads and replied the best way possible by scoring a goal within the next 5 minutes. Elena Dimcia managed to nudge the ball between the Cambridge keeper's legs and put Matamata on the board.

Towards the end of the first half Matamata went a bit flat and unfortunately let in 2 quick goals for Cambridge.

At the half time break the score was 3-1 to Cambridge. It was also discussed that the fitness level maybe the deciding factor of the game as Matamata is not used to playing this standard of soccer.

So in the second half the girls rallied around each other and give it all they had. The communication and support play again shone through. The passing between players was accurate and commitment to the ball was perfect.

A lot more of the play was seen up front for Matamata and they created a lot of opportunities but were not quite able to capitalise from this. So Cambridge did in turn score 2 more goals in the second half but it was no reflection on the standard of play from the Matamata Women.

Cambridge's last goal was almost a freakish event which entailed a pile up of player's including the Matamata Keeper! Somehow the ball flicked up into the arms of Annah Mason who was standing on the goal line, she in turn dropped the ball and a Cambridge player pushed it over the line.

So at the final whistle the score was 5-1 to Cambridge but Matamata came away feeling as though they had won the game.

Matamata Car Painters Player of the Day went to centre midfielder Serena Jenkins. Matamata plays away again next weekend against Te Awamutu.