The Royal Navy women’s football team faced their toughest challenge of the season with the Inter-Services competition.

The season has provided a steep learning curve, with satisfying results against some very competitive national teams.

Fixtures such as those against Cambridge University, Yeovil Town, Gosport, Southampton and Portsmouth kept the team on their toes and gave them the opportunity to try out new tactics and ideas at their ‘home ground’ at HMS Temeraire, the RN School of Physical Training, in Portsmouth.

Availability of players was a major problem, with work constraints, commitments in the Middle East and obligations to operation Fresco, covering for the firefighters’ strikes.

The Inter-Services is played as a round-robin competition, each team playing home once and away once, the so that in one year the Army would visit the Navy and the following year the fixture is reversed.

The competition on the pitch is second to none but friendships are resumed during the receptions afterwards as each home team hosts their visitors.

This year kicked off with the 2002 winners the Army hosting the Royal Air Force at Aldershot. The game started quietly, but the half-time talk in the Army dressing room had the desired effect and the soldiers scored three times without reply in the second half.

The following week the RAF hosted the Royal Navy at RAF Halton in an evening kick-off. The match proved to be a close and exciting affair, with the RAF working hard to save face on their home ground. The hosts went into the break 2-1 up, but the second half provided a glut of chances, and with the RAF failing top capitalise on theirs, the game was all-square as the clock ticked down.

And right at the death it was the Navy who took the honours with a net-buster of as goal, giving them a 4-3 win – the Navy scorers being OM Julie Hewitt with a hat-trick and LWPT Lisa Farthing.

That set up a championship decider at Temeraire, with the Army needing to win to retain their title and the Navy, sponsored this season by NAAFI, just requiring a draw.

The Navy held out until the 60th minute, when the Army took the lead with a relatively simple goal, and although both sides battled to the end in search of further goals, producing an excellent spectacle for the crowd, there were no further strikes and the Army took the championship by the narrowest of margins.

After each match there were presentations of Individual Service and Combined Service caps for those players who had qualified for them this season. This year RN Caps were presented to OM Julie Hewitt, OM Mich Garratt, CH Lou Clarke, MEM Sian Werner (nee Blundell) and Combined Services caps were presented to POPT Mich Bowen, POAEA Marisa Dryhurst and MEM Sian Werner (nee Blundell).

There is also an award for the players’ player, where each team member gets to vote for their own team’s most influential player. This year the awards went to: Royal Navy – OM Julie Hewitt; RAF – Cpl Debbie Scotcher; Army – WO2 Sandra Robson.

The squad has now bid farewell to CPOAEM ‘Frankie’ McQuarrie, who donned an RN shirt for the final time in the Inter-Services Competition, as she leaves the RN next year.