League Match day 2 - away vs Brixworth

Welcome all,
Another cold, windy match day for the U13’s, the girls determined to perform for each other came to the game early and focused. The warm up and team talk went well with all the girls taking in the importance of their roles in the team formation.

We started brightly and made some early gains forward. Playing on the front foot suited us and the girls managed to penetrate the opposition back line on numerous occasions but these efforts narrowly went wide of the goal or saved well by the goalie.
Our passing play through the middle third was neater and the girls were calmer on the ball and our passes to each other were much more cohesive. This led to the our attackers building up some relentless pressure, led to the opposition charging down one of our shots with her hand which was punished by a first half penalty. Unfortunately for us this shot went over the bar. End of the 1st half 0-0
Second half began well for us, with good pass and move football bringing us closer and closer to scoring our first goal, the girls had worked hard throughout the match and we put in some hard yards to make the breakthrough, when a mix up from a throw in led to Brixworth breaking away and gaining the lead 1-0.
The girls shook this set back off and drove the ball straight down the field, determined to balance the score. Our wingers worked tremendously hard today. This coupled with some excellent driving runs from our midfielders pushed the opposition back into their box, unfortunately too many bodies deep in the box made it difficult to get a clear shot at goal, deflections led to corners and we were getting closer to that equaliser. With the pressure building on the Brixworth goal, a moment of defensive panic led a tripping of our striker in the box & we were awarded with a late penalty which was superbly saved to deny our girls a well-deserved equaliser.
With the girls pushing hard, deep into stoppage time to get the equaliser, when we were caught out on the break and Brixworth made it 2-0.
The girls had worked hard today, they played together as a team and looked much like their performances last year. So well done young ladies!
Unfortunately for us, today we didn’t get those fine margins that turn a good performance into a well-deserved result. But we’ll work hard again in training and come ready for our next match!
Heads up young ladies, lets raise the bar again!

Player of the match is awarded to Chloe.

See you all at training Tuesday! We have a surprise for you :)
Matt
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