Under 8’s v West Bridgford

We had Sarika, Juliana, Faye, Laila & Tia (captain) starting with Elise, Georgia, Holly & Sophie as our subs. 

It was a great game, quite evenly matched throughout between the two teams. Our girls played really well with lots of communication throughout the game, they are really starting to gel as a team which is coming through in their football. 

 

Player of the Match : Laila

Under 9’s v Nottingham Forest 

Player of the Match : Esme

Under 10’s v Priory Celtic 

Well an amazing game today was end to end. Excellent passing from our girls all around, from back to front, some brilliant crosses coming into the box too. 

Some strong tackling and excellent defending also.

 

Player of the Match: Bethany

Under 11’s v Rainworth

Player of the Match : Brooke

Ladies First Team v Ollerton Town (County Cup)

Ollerton v Arnold Eagles First

Final Score 3 – 1

 

This was a tough cup draw against a premier league side which got even tougher when we only had 11 players available on the day, largely due to the fact that we currently have 6 players out injured. So you could be forgiven for thinking that the team were on a hiding to nothing, especially against a side that had scored 14 goals in their last 3 games. 

 

My reshuffled starting 11 had 3 players playing out of their normal positions and a back four that hadn’t played as a defensive unit together. Lou was in goal, Shauna moved to left back, Courtney and Shell formed a new central defensive pairing and Charlie came in at right back in her first game of the season. Henna was also in her first game of the season having only just returned to Nottingham for Uni and played wide on the left, Jen and Hannah were the midfield pair with Amy switching wings to the right. As usual the pairing up front was Nat and Demi. Those 11 players gave everything they had and totally dominated the first half which saw us take the lead when Demi’s glancing header steered a pin point free-kick from Hannah across the keeper and into the far corner. It was a just reward for our work rate and intensive pressing and we deserved to be 2 up at half-time but a thunderous dipping 25 yard shot from Hannah unfortunately crashed back off the crossbar.

 

We knew that Ollerton would come out strongly in the second half and also had the advantage of 2 subs to provide fresh legs. The players continued to give everything but tiredness was beginning to show and in a goal mouth scramble a close range shot gave Ollerton an equaliser. Ollerton then took the lead with a large slice of luck as a great defensive challenge from Courtney saw the ball fall fortuitously right at the feet of an Ollerton player for them to slot the ball past Lou. The third goal for Ollerton came when we failed to clear a free-kick into the box and allowed a simple tap in.

 

The players never gave up and kept getting the ball down and played our brand of passing football right to the end. We were still creating Ollerton problems with our final chance coming in the 88th minute which but for a brilliant last ditch sliding block would have seen us get our second goal.

 

Of course we play to win so a defeat is always hard to take and we always see things in a game that we need to work on but the feeling after this performance was overwhelmingly positive. We know the way we are training, the match day routines and the hard work of everyone both on and off the pitch will soon deliver better results. Our mantra is get the performance right and the results will take care of themselves. What the players showed in this game re-affirmed the progress the squad is making, not only in playing and technical ability but crucially in the mental approach to the game which is so important at this level. The true character of a team comes out in adversity and I could not be more pleased with the character the 11 players showed and the way they played, they were a credit to the club.

 

There were many contenders for Player of the Match but with such a dynamic and faultless performance in only her second game the award deservedly went to  Courtney Walters.

 

Another positive was that much to our relief, this was the first game that we have played this season where we have not picked up another injury. Hopefully this signals a change of luck on that front and we hope it will not be long before our injured players (Amirah – ankle, Megan – knee, Nipper – knee, Ellie – knee, Hannah TT – calf, Amelia – hip) are back on the pitch.

 

Player of the Match : Courtney Walters