Ladies 1st XI Vs Trent Vale Ladies I

Match  Report v Trent Vale.17 November 2018

Juniors in the team. Gracie/ Poppy, Ruby/ Issy S / Kate,  Holly, Abbie

In her pre match briefing,  Captain Beth  spelled out that Trent Vale (T.V.)  are strong and experienced. Frequent short accurate passes, keeping possession and moving inexorably forward. We must have strict marking in defence, and getting ourselves unmarked  in attack. Keep moving, go wide, stretch their defence. Use our speed to harry and outstrip the opposition.

So it turned out to be a clash between youth and experience, between speed and craft.

Elizabeth in goal was put on her mettle as a result of an immediate and brilliant breakaway attack by Trent Vale, but briskly swatted away their frequent shots at goal, that is, if they got past the indomitable Mel with the steely forearms. It is always a struggle to get past Mel.  

Holly and Jo backed up in defence, and never lost touch with our midfield. Always thinking with purpose and shrewd passing of the ball to create attacks. Sometimes there is too great a gap developing between defence and our midfield but not today. Jo kept a tight control over the defence and support structure. It worked a treat.

Midfield had Katrina, Gracie and Issy S. Long legs, clever stick-work, and speed really prevented Trent Vale from establishing their craft mastery. Harrying their attacks and shutting them down. Clever tackling. Just before half-time a sudden T.V. breakaway split our  defence, and scored. 0-1. But almost immediately,  our forwards  hit back. Louise dashed in like a Wily Coyote to poach a goal out of absolutely nowhere.  At half time it was 1-1. All to play for.

Louise on the right wing kept wide and stretched the T.V. defence. Poppy on the left cleverly did the same.  Beth and Ruby spearheaded fast attacks into the heart of the T.V. defence. Abbie, Kate and Issy S moved with sure purpose between supporting our forward line (and indeed being part of it), and providing extra bricks for the brick wall of  our midfield defence. All our juniors are developing a knack of intelligent and mature reading of  the game,  and thus moved into positions to help shut down the T.V. craft skills.

T.V. opened the second half with different tactics and snatched a surprise goal. 1-2.   Undaunted, our Terriers countered that and pressed forward. Again and again. Beth was speeding everywhere up front, stretching their defence, and this enabled Ruby to weave in like lightning, to catch the opposition unawares, and to slide the ball past an astonished goalkeeper. 2-2. And  that was how it ended. A fair result against probably the better side, but on the day T.V. found it difficult to cope with our flexibility, speed and clever substitutions. 110%  of team effort given.

Euan gave a coach’s prize to our under-18  Player of the Match and it was awarded to Ruby. Well done, Ruby.

Thanks to Simon for umpiring.

We really appreciated the support and encouragement of more and more parents coming to watch and cheer us on. Made a big difference to us. And Abbie’s grandfather was there offering wise and helpful comments from his considerable experience as a past player.  It seems likely that when he was younger, and when Euan was an aspiring junior (!), that they played against each other in the Lincolnshire League!