Guernsey goalkeeper Atkinson tames Surbiton Lionesses
NOT for the first time Emma Atkinson was Guernsey’s penalty shoot-out heroine yesterday as the Greens progressed in the EH Women’s Tier Three Championship.
Unlike on previous occasions, though, this time the Island No 1 mastered the art of saving from shuffles rather than strokes as she prevented Surbiton Lionesses from scoring any past her while Mali Smith and Teya Sheppard tucked theirs away to seal a deserved-but-tense home victory at Footes Lane. The match had ended 1-1 with the visitors scoring an equaliser just two minutes from time after Smith had given the hosts a first-half lead.
‘My gran passed away at Christmas, so this one was for her and I wasn’t going to be beaten today,’ said Atkinson.
‘It’s the first time we’ve had a shuffle competition competitively, it’s been a recent change in the England Hockey set-up, so we’ve been practising a few in training and the girls have been a bit unsure, but I love a good penalty shoot-out.
‘I’ve played for so long now, I’ve played for 20 years, I know that the pressure isn’t on me, the pressure is all on the striker. I can do my best and not stop any, people will still say “well done”, but I wouldn’t have dreamed that I would stop them all.
‘I said to the girls before we went out there, “we don’t need to score five, we just need to score more than them” and that’s what we did.’
Guernsey coach Bex Hubbard gave a knowing smile and admitted that her side are ‘really fortunate’ to have Atkinson in goal at such moments.
‘I’d back her any day of the week,’ Hubbard added.
