gU13 08-Dec-07: Oswald Rd 3-8 Hillgate Blues (HT 1-5)

The team played really well against Hillgate Blues last week, especially since it was so cold all the other games were cancelled. It rained practically all the way through, and everyone got a bit fed up towards the end. It was our first mach with a full team plus a sub; this was really good because it meant that we all got a rest at some point. The score was 3-8 and Zoë scored 1, Katie scored 2 goals; assists were from Zoë, Tara and Kenesha.

Roisin

At the start of the match we were sat in the car because we thought it was cancelled then the ref turned up. In the first half Becky done some good saves. The final score was 3-8.

Becky – played good in net.
Sophie – played well and done good kicks.
Shaye – sprinting down the pitch to get the ball.
Rudi – played excellent for her first match and nearly scored two goals.
Ruki – played good and controlled the ball.
Kenesha – played well skilling out the defenders.
Katie – played very very good. Controlling the ball.
Taz – played good running up and down the pitch.
Zoe – played very very good running up and down the pitch and skilling out people.

Tara

Well. Again we were hoping that this would be the first game that we would have a full team. Oh well. Guess what happened? Exactly. We had a full team! Not just that – we even had a substitute! So, of course, we thought the match would get cancelled as it had rained heavily all Thursday. However, Friday was merely mildly damp and Saturday dawned dry … then it started to rain. Oh. No.

We went to Partington anyway and the rain let up for a bit. The pitches were all soaking. One by one, all the other matches were called off by the referees, but out ref looked at our pitch (admittedly the best of the 9-a-side pitches)) and decided that the puddles in both goals could be cleared and weren’t a good enough reason to cancel the match. So Mark went off to the hut to find some large squeegee brooms and he swept the water off the goal lines – also incidentally making them muddier but we all know that’s what goalies love! ;-) Don’t we? Heh heh.

It started raining at the kickoff and didn’t stop until we were near the end of the second half, but the girls kept on going through the rain and the mud. The game started off well with our defenders holding off Hillgate’s fast attackers and we also had a few attacks of our own. Rudi did brilliantly in her makeshift role in mid-field (we couldn’t put her in goal yet as she’s not had enough practice) – in fact, she had a few chances on goal and only her inexperience and Hillgate’s goalie kept the ball out of goal. Hillgate soon pierced our defence and were 0-3 up by the 21^st minute (helped by the usual assortment of mistakes from us). Then Ruqayyah took the ball off them and ran past a couple Hillgate players, she passed out to Zoe who went past one player and passed it to Katie. Katie ran at an angle past the rest of the defenders and swept the ball into goal. A goal! This galvanised Hillgate and they pressed us back and scored two more good goals.

The second half was much better as the team didn’t lose concentration for quite a while and kept going at Hillgate. Hillgate scored a lucky goal at the beginning but we pressed forward successfully and Ruqayyah, Katie and Tara combined well to get the ball down the left wing and then Tara crossed beautifully to Zoe who ran intelligently onto the ball and knocked it into goal. Kenesha was also playing well and she also set up a goal, passing the ball to Katie to run at the Hillgate defence and whack the ball into goal. Hillgate did manage to get a couple of goals as we tired towards the end of the game but overall we played really well. We’re doing much better in closing down attackers, staying goal-side, and pushing them out. Our clearances from defence are also much improved and we can now string together quite a few passes in midfield. Things we need to improve are defensive support play and passing or shooting on the run. We’re getting there.

Kamal

Goals: Katie(Zoe) 27’; Zoe(Tara) 17’, Katie(Kenesha) 23’
Opposition’s Player of the Match: Ruqayyah Hashmi
Managers’ Player of the Match: Zoe-Lea Dale
Team, 9 from (s): (fwd) Zoë, Kenesha (mid) Roisin(s), Tara(s), Katie, Rudi(s), (def) Shaye(s), Ruqayyah, Sophie(s), (gk) Rebecca(c)