U10 v Hill House, Won 4 - 1

Players of the match:
Tara O and Holly D

Back to more seasonal weather, we travelled to play Hill House at the Aurora Stadium in Rotherham.  It was the first match which we had all eagerly awaited and it was a good opportunity to play on astro-turf.  What a positive start it was.

Holly D (captain) won the toss and off we went.  The forwards; Constance W, Tara O and Amber H played strongly and Amber H smacked the first goal home after only 2 minutes play.  Holly D played very effectively in the centre mid-field position and our two backs of Tilly S and Natalie G, as well as Miriam A the goal keeper, didn’t need to get too involved at this stage.  Tara O put the score up to 2-0 at 6 minutes.  For the rest of the half, we kept a lot of possession and Grace T came on too.  All went off happy at half time.

In the second half, Hill House came out a stronger team, and now they were playing with more determination and they also benefitted from the slight slope down hill.  However, our forwards and centre mid kept the focus and Tara O scored the third goal after 3 minutes.  Hill House attacked more and our defence came under more pressure.  Hill House scored in the fifth minute and this spurred their team to keep more possession.  However, after a few near misses Holly D took the ball and scored in the final minute, completing the score at 4-1.

There are many positives to take from the game: the girls did play like a team with a good, positive spirit, everyone held their space better than last year and there was less of everyone running after the ball instead of into space.  It was also very pleasing to see drills taught in Games lessons cropping up in the game.

For our match next week against Foremarke, we will have to continue to be mindful of feet getting in the way and it is also important we quickly drop 5m back, if the opposition have a free pass awarded.  There were also a few occasions when all the forwards dropped back to defend, leaving no one up front when we turned the play around.  We do need one forward ready near the opposition’s goal.

Thank you to all the spectators who came to Rotherham to support, cheer on and even dress the goal keeper!  Much appreciated.