And the weather wasn’t the only thing hotting up. Servette Ladies first team started off well in an intense match against Black Boys. Some nice link up play on the left wing with Corinna and Emma meant we had good attacking play early on. Persistent play in the D eventually led to Emma putting away a fantastically taken goal in front of a jubilant home crowd. Servette’s half court strategy appeared to be paying off, although unfortunately Black came back just before half time to score a well-structured goal from a short corner.

In the second half, things remained as intense as before. Lena and Karien – our new joiner from Rotterdam – put in great effort in the middle with some solid tackling and good distribution and Servette had much of the possession. A brilliant run from Alexia up the right wing was the start of a fast counter attack with Emma hitting the post from close range – so easily could it have been 2-1. The team all played superbly together and kept up the intensity until the end – Alicia and Steph both doing well in attack and defence respectively. And just when the whistle blew, we thought it was all over at 1-1.

But no – penalty 1-on-1s were to follow in another exciting chapter of the match. Karien, Carole, Lena, Corinna and Emma all bravely stepped up to admirably take a penalty each, and at the end of five 1-on-1s each, we were tied at 1-1, with Corinna being the sole scorer at this point. Melody pulled out some incredible saves in the D to keep Servette in the running, to the great cheer of the crowd and her fellow teammates- so impressed were we with her valiant efforts in what was probably her first 1-on-1 penalty encounter.

And so it came down to sudden death – Black’s captain missed from more brilliant work from Melody in the D, and Karien – our fearsome debutante- bravely stepped up to make amends for an unfortunate miss the first time round. She did so with style and put the ball past Black’s goalkeeper in an awesome finale to a hard-fought match.

The scenes of jubilation at Servette – from both the team and our supporters – was unforgettable and one to savour for some time to come. A brilliant derby day for us all, and onwards and upwards we continue under the leadership and coaching from Marc. Well-earned extra point, girls.

Vanessa