She's a Man's World - DISCONTINUED

The Title Winning Game

Standing in the tunnel about to head out onto the pitch which will decide the league title is potentially one of the most nerve-wracking feelings. My knees were constantly knocking together, my entire body shaking as if I was standing in a fridge.

Despite the fact that I was standing at the back of my team's line and the women's side of football only draws a couple of hundred fans at most, their chants echoed around the tunnel, sounding like drums in my ears.

Closing my eyes and taking deep breaths was the only slight reassurance to me as nerves were intent on controlling me completely.

"Right, come on girls, lets go!", our captain Jody Handley shouted as we began walking out of the tunnel, cheering in response to her.

Our last game of the season was at home to Arsenal Ladies. Whoever won this game would win the title. The 90 minutes between us and the trophy began counting down as the referee blew the whistle.

...

The scoreline was still 0-0 after 40 minutes, both teams cancelling out each other and enjoying equal amounts of possession. Arsenal currently were about to take a corner, and so the rest of the team besides myself were in and around the 18yard box.

Jordan Nobbs played a curling ball into the box, Julie Nelson (Everton) and Ellen White (Arsenal) both vying to get their heads on it. Thankfully, Julie managed to reach the ball first, heading it and sending it straight towards me.

I could feel the presence of Arsenal's Alex Scott behind me, ready to challenge for the ball when it arrived. With this in mind, I controlled the ball with my chest and somehow managed to turn and begin sprinting towards the opposing goal, leaving Scott dumbfounded trying to catch up.

There was only Arsenal's keeper Emma Byrne between me and the goal, and as every keeper would, she rushed out to try and swipe the ball away from my feet. But just as she got to me I chipped the ball over her and caught up with it to simply tap it into the empty goal, taking the score line to 1-0.

Relief flushed over me as we finally had ourselves in front in such an important game. Nothing would stop the huge smile that spread across my face as my teammates ran towards me in joy. However, there was still a long way to go so I couldn't celebrate too much.

...

Both sides got ready for the restart after half time. Our manager, Andy Spence, had given a team talk throughout the break, and was convinced that we could win this.

The whistle blew for the start of the second half, and I rolled the ball to Jody, who ordered me to go straight up the pitch towards Arsenal's goal. Her wish was my command as she put her plan into action.

She played a through ball to Alex Greenwood, who began sprinting down the wing. I loomed near the edge of the 18yard box, as Alex lobbed the ball towards me. Steph Houghton was stood close to me, alerting me to the fact that I would have to hit this ball on the first attempt. The ball flew closer towards me and my sudden instinct produced a scissor kick which sent it firing into the top corner to make the scoreline 2-0.

Now I could really celebrate as I sprinted towards the corner flag then slided on my knees whilst the rest of the team practically jumped on me. Joy filled me within as one of my dreams was set to become a fantastic reality. I looked up into the crowd, only to find my parents cheering for me; an unexpected but wonderful surprise.

Overwhelmed by the moment, I leaped into the stands, bounding up each step to get to my parents. They both engulfed me in a huge embrace, pretty much screaming their pride in me as tears welled up in my eyes.

...

The final whistle blew for the end of the game, the score 2-0 to Everton, meaning we had won the league. We all gathered into a team hug, everyone overjoyed with what had just happened but unable to believe it. Tears rolled down all of our cheeks as Andy pushed himself into the group, subtly crying also. "You girls have no idea how proud I am of you all. Well done. Now it's time to lift that trophy".

We all broke apart, wiping our now scarlet-red eyes. One by one as our names were read out by the announcer, we stepped up onto the podium. Once we were all up there, the announcer cheered, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you all, the winners of the FA Women's Super League 2013...Evertoooooon!"

Jody and I raised the cup, everyone jumping up and down as the champagne sprayed us all and confetti fell on us like rain. Right now, I thought this was a good as things were going to get...