GU12 24-Feb-07: Barrhill
I was going to start of writing this report before the game started, and the opening, having previously lost to Barhill 17-0 was going to be “It was always a wretched day” however it wasn’t until Barhill panicked and decided to play their extra player that their game turned. We had only six players to start the game so in a sporting gesture to the shouts of “easy, easy “, Barhill elected to play with only six as well. As I have whinged about before, this meant that we couldn’t play tactically or substitute, but they could.
We started off the game playing Barhill at their game and matched everything they did with chances being created at both ends. Having had a good night’s sleep Katie looked a different player fighting and running for everything. Sophie P. was tough and strong at the back and developed a scary sixth sense by always being where she needed to be to cut out their attacks. We were brave in playing only two defenders but crowding them out in the midfield worked very well. Beck was confident in Goal and the kicks were consistently swinging us straight on to the attack.
It was with a certain amount of frustration that Barhill went ahead with a few minutes to half time – still, that was a score line we could overcome. However, when Barhill started the second half, lo and behold, they decided to play seven players, and the extra player made the difference. Effectively they got a player to goal hang and we had to mark her or let her score. This stretched us and you can’t mark seven players when you only have six. So what happened to sportsmanship?
We played well and had two one-on-one chances – one when when Zoe was thwarted by their goalkeeper, and the other after an excellent passing move that opened their defence, Sophie A. rattled it against the post.
Barhill made the breakthrough, and from that point with the extra player and the game going on, effectively it was all over. It was just a shame that Barhill couldn’t accept our challenge and find out if they really are the top team or not. Sometimes playing for a win at all costs just doesn’t feel right.
Mike
Initially, it was a bit disappointing that we were down to 6 players after illness and parental punishment. However, I remembered how the previous girls U12s team had turned around their entire season after a game where they were down to six players and played brilliantly – they learnt why they should pass the ball! Still lost of course but they started winning games from then on. Maybe this experience would help us.
Anyway, Barrhill remembered how they had previously massacred us and started with six players as well so that they could have a game. And what a game they were given! We played extremely well in the first half, stopping every attack and launching a few of our own. Unfortunately, they had their best player in defence and she soon realised that
We had obviously scared Barrhill because they sent on their seventh player in the second half (a goal hanger) and, as we were trying to be more attacking to get the goal back, they could easily send people forward to outnumber our defenders. And, of course, the more goals they scored, the more we attacked, the easier it was for them to score again. A vicious circle. The goals came on 7, 9, 12, 18 and 22 minutes – none of them due to bad defending or keeping, just to them having more players than us and being good at passing. We had some very good chances in the second half but were trying too hard and missed them all. Still, this was our best result against Barrhill and we played really well. We’re getting much better with our positions as well as our passing.
Kamal
Team: SophieA, Ruqayyah, Zoë, SophieP, Katie, Rebecca
Goals (& Assists): nowt
Opposition’s Player of the Match: Ruqayyah
Managers’ Player of the Match: SofiP
1 comment:
boo to Barhill
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