Eagles U14 Buzzards Vs Southwell City F.C.Girls U11

Arnold Eagles under 11 Buzzards v Southwell 13/6/21

A debut today for Amarah who recently joined us from Wildcats.

The starting line-up was: 

Lacey, Michele, Grace, Millie, Ava, Mala and Evie-Rose 

Subs were Alice, Dobbo, Sav and Amarah

What a start from Southwell, scoring goals early on and that made them more confident. They passed the ball about well and had several attacks, forcing good saves from Lacey. Then we settled and started to play a little bitbut that final ball wasn’t quite right. Millie was revelling in her wide midfield position, breaking through tackles and working well with Mala.As we approached 15 minutes another couple of quick fire goals from Southwell and we then had a welcome drinks break. We hadn’t played badly but Southwell had been excellent.

So subs on now with Alice replacing Michele and Sav on for Millie. Dobbo, who had been poorly earlier in the week to go on later, with an excited Amarah. Team talk was about closing down quicker and getting balls down the channels for Mala and Evie-Rose. It’s fair to say we gave as good as we got in the next 15 minutes and their keeper was in the action more than Lacey. Ava was strong in the middle and Evie-Rose was making some great runs, Grace was her powerful self and using that trusty right foot to clear danger into attack with each clearance. Mala also making some fantastic, strong runs down the wide. No goals conceded during this spell as all the girls worked their socks off.

The second half saw the introduction of Amarah and Dobbo. Within seconds Dobbo getting in an important tackle and putting Mala away on the left, putting a fabulous cross in that just evaded Evie-Rose. Sav, getting used to her new role in midfield was up and down the midfield, tackling back and also putting some great passes into Ava and Mala. Alice was formidable in defence, putting some strong challenges in, winning the ball and passing to all three midfielders. Her timing in the tackle was fantastic. It was very even throughout these 15 minutes, Southwell breaking away once and scoring. So we had just gone 30 minutes, conceding just one goal, whilst having several chances ourselves, including a cross from Evie-Rose that Sav couldn’t quite reach.

After the drinks break with Michele back on for Grace and we saw her potential with a couple of strong challenges followed by composed passes. Amarah, after a nervous couple of minutes, started to settle and made some strong runs and showed she can tackle as well.

At then we couldn’t have asked any more of the girls who had all performed brilliantly in the hot weather. Good passing and movement for long parts of the game, butlinking the play and that final ball not quite there yet. A couple of games to go to put it all together.

Player of the Match was given to Lacey for some outstanding saves during the game.