| Match Report |
Juniors in the team. Poppy /Ruby/ Issy S / Izzy B/ Kate/ Holly/ Abbie
Captain Beth led out a side against a highly experienced and very senior Woodthorpe Ladies (W.L) with a new and untried defence formation.
Janelle in goal and Jo in an unaccustomed role as sweeper. Beth moved herself from centre forward to the back 3 of defence and was ably assisted by hard-running Holly / Kate and late in the first half by Louise who moved back from right wing to counter the WL attacks .
Midfield we had Caroline who was a Tower of strength alongside Sophie and Issy S / Izzy B, all of whom showed creativity in mounting swift attacks and being back in solid defence.
In the forward line we had a returning Olivia from uni. Poppy/Abbie/Ruby. And in the first half Louise gliding joyfully down the right wing and smacking hard crosses to a subtly-lurking and very successful Olivia. Poppy’s commitment and Abbie’s speed and skills were always a danger. As was Ruby who must have covered miles, in being in on our strong attacks and also back skilfully helping midfield.
W.L were caught unawares by our speed of movement and swift, confident passing, and at the end of the first quarter we were 2-0 up. Thanks to the goal-scoring skills of Olivia.
But the canny W.L. team regrouped and used their experience to shut down our attacks, and indeed to counter-attack.
This proved a highly successful manoeuvre, and at half time we were 2-7 down. We brought back Louise to help our defence, which stemmed the tide.
At half time a stirring pep talk by Beth, supported by Caroline’s astute comments, set us back on track. We lost the second half 1-2, a dramatic turn-round but it still did not reflect the number of attacks we mounted on the W.L defence. And Olivia crashed another strike into their goal. W.L knew they were always in danger and pulled back their attackers to help their defence. In turn this relieved the pressure on our own defence. Janelle had a good game, and the final score did not reflect the number of excellent saves that she made.
Final score 3-9 against a very strong and experienced team. And South Notts never gave up. Well done.
Coach’s under 18’s award to Poppy for an outstanding performance. But everyone in our TEAM gave 110% and it made the spectators proud to cheer us on. We are grateful to be supported by relatives and friends. This week Ruby’s grandfather came up to support and admire how well Ruby is playing.
Coach’s tips of the week :-
1.We did not use the space enough. We bunched in the ‘M1 area’ between the lines of the two goals (up and down the pitch), in a burning desire to collect the ball and mount attacks. This allowed W.L to use their much slower wings and try to get round behind us.
2. Too often in the first half there were two players marking one of theirs, leaving one dangerously unmarked. This arose because W.L moved players a great deal around the pitch and we blended marking the player with marking the position. At half time, Berth instructed us to concentrate on marking the position, not the player. This worked a treat as it promptly nullified the W.L tactic.
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