More twaddle from Taff since no one else can be bothered... ;-) all this stuff did happen but the order is only roughly right. Possibly.

Well Cardiff made the long trip south down a gloriously sunny M5 with what resembled a more or less full strength side for once. A brand new feature this season, two relatively settled ends, set out to show the Devonshire outfit what we are made of. We just didn't bether getting started for a few minutes. Both ends were guilty of some sloppy play, and we hurled the ball into all four walls of the hall during the opening exchanges. Somewhat against the run of play, Harry's sweetly timed free-pass move got us off the mark but the lead was short-lived. Exeter hit straight back and then stormed into a 3-1 lead thanks to some lightening running off the ball.

With Cardiff still dropping the ball like it was a bucket of frogs, Taff called a timeout. Then, because Susan is the captain, Susan called a timeout and we could finally talk it over. The resulting improvement was nothing short of sporadic. Susan caught the defence ball-watching to set up Taff for a complete sitter which for once he put away, then he missed two penalties once the ref had decided which wood-knot should serve as a penalty spot ;-). Ceri and Harry landed two beautiful long-shots, then potty-mouth Rob got booked for referring to his 'nad-sac in a not particularly Queens-English kind of way. Taff rattled in a mid-distance effort but then we let in two more soft goals. Arse!

There was just time for Susan to have a decent looking goal ruled out cos of something Rob was up to elsewhere on the pitch and we went in at the half at 5 a piece.

With the usual stereo cacophony of half-time voices finally silenced after repeated pleas from the coaches, we actually seemed to respond at the start of the second half. With Rob and Susan picking up tons of loose ball in defence the attack was having a field day. Harry sank another shot from somewhere near the car park and followed that up by showing us how to take a penalty properly.

The purple patch continued as Taff bounced another one in (even as I write this I have no idea how that one fell in - it was easily the worst I threw of the afternoon) - then Susan dropped in our first running-in shot despite getting her hand stroked tenderly as the shot went up and we suddenly had a 4 goal lead.

That was a good as it got though, as the teams traded goals over the final quarter, the highlight here being that Exeter switched to a tighter defence allowing Ceri and Harry to run their markers ragged. Several passages of play followed with Sian and Rachel expertly rotating the feed and collect, and setting up both blokes as they came charging through the middle. One particularly fluid move with several fizzing passes ended up with Ceri open from mid-distance, but without coach Terry on the sidelines squawking "Finish it!" Ceri was a bit lost for advice so just chucked the ball randomly over the post. Shame.

After a goal from Ceri that was only a matter of time, Taff was faced with a marker finally up too close, so hurled the ball into the middle and set off for a glorious running in shot. Unfortunately he'd neglected to check for the presence of a feeder so the glory turned to looking stupid rather too quickly. One more running in shot later (scored off Midge) and the game was rounded off with another of Harry's comedy finger-wagging celebrations.

So Cardiff have a third-quarter burst to thank for a well fought victory. Terry's insistence on us taking long shots is finally paying off and players are forging some nice working partnerships. The girls were pretty unfortunate that they had to spend so long rebounding since our boys were so-oo much smaller than the Exeter side, but the splendid display of rebounding and some crisp passing (once the sweaty ball had been replaced) meant the guys had all the time in the world to knock their shots down. Good stuff.

Thanks again to Exeter for a fast and committed game that was played in excellent spirit and good cheer, and also to Kevin for coming down from Bristol to referee us. A cracking day out!

Sorry there's no pictures, I only remembered the camera at about Taunton

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