Win is the stuff that dreams are made of

The Southampton-based team entered Beau Sejour ranked a close second in South U16s Division Two, seemingly in another realm to a Guernsey side that had only won one in five this season and sat near the bottom of the table.

But in an outcome that defied belief for Panthers and their coaching team, the greens managed to secure a monumental win – edging it by a single goal, 29-28, after leading by nine at half-time.

Ultimately, just after Dreams had come back to make it 27-all, they suffered a costly turnover and Panthers capitalised with a critical conversion.

Then a big intercept from player-of-the-match WA Frankie Savident, who had worked tirelessly all game, combined with more clean shooting, led to them doubling their advantage.

Continued hustle from Panthers’ circle defenders limited Dreams’ retaliation and capped off what was an outstanding squad performance in all thirds.

Coach Heidi Rosamund revealed afterwards that the girls had struggled in training just two days beforehand, so the win left her aghast.

‘I’m on top of the world,’ she said.

‘I can’t believe it. They’re second in the league and we’re second from bottom – that’s a phenomenal win, isn’t it?’

After entering the sports hall as firm underdogs, Panthers roused a supportive home crowd by scoring four unanswered early on to lead 7-3.

Dreams subsequently drew on a few Panthers errors, plus numerous tips and turnovers from their circle defence, in closing to 8-6 at the quarter.

But Panthers blew out their lead with two more scoring runs in the second, capitalising on sharp shooting from Charlotte Griggs and Lola Wakefield. Come half-time they were 20-11 up.

Dreams woke up in quarter three and closed the gap marginally, largely through a stellar defensive performance headed by GK and eventual POM Bulou Butucama.

The home side hit the final quarter leading 25-17 and opted to ring the changes to mix it up.

However, they did not settle immediately and had to watch their opponents score six goals unanswered at one advanced point, before their passion and determination shone through and they secured the upset.

‘I thought there was more left on the clock to be honest, and I was getting a bit wobbly and being like “calm down, calm down”,’ Rosamund said.

After her charges erupted in celebration of the shock result, the coach reflected on an earlier team talk that seemed to go down a treat.

‘We had a really good team talk and we were talking about them playing for each other, playing as a team,’ she added.

‘Your WA can’t do anything without your GS, if defence don’t turn the ball over then shooters can’t make a goal, and if your shooters don’t get a shot in then you don’t win a game – we did loads of that today. We’re buzzing.’