Under 8's v West Bridgford

Player of the Match : Sophie

Under 9's v Bottesford PP

Under 10's v Newark Town

Player of the Match : Peyton

Under 11's v Lowdham (Cup)

A cup game today against Lowdham. It was end to end today, with both teams playing well. Chloe made a couple of excellent saves, and Lexi, Emily, Sophie in defence made some really good plays, taking the ball from Lowdham and kicking the ball back up front. Ellie and Violet both played midfield and up front, with Charlotte in centre mid and Katie and Abby on the wings taking the ball into the opposition box. Charlotte had a cracking goal from outside the box, and Ellie ran the ball round the Lowdham defence and scored having been set up by Sophie and Abby. Violet had a couple of fantastic shots, but sadly didn’t hit the target. Violet was girl of the game for her work in midfield keeping the ball and stopping Lowdham from getting back to our goal.  Final Score 3-1

Player of the Match : Violet

Under 11 Rebels v West Bridgford (Plate)

A cracking cup tie in the U11 plate between two evenly matched teams the Under 11 Rebels and West Bridgford Comets.

Playing each other for the second time in 3 weeks, the game was very even, without there being many chances. Around 15 minutes in, West Bridgford were awarded a penalty for a trip in the area, which they scored with a well taken shot. The game continued to be tight until half time.  In the second half, with Issy out of goal and playing as striker, the Rebels started to create chances and 10 minutes into the half, she ran onto a fantastic through ball from Daisy and beat the keeper as she came out, injuring herself in the process.  The second half continued to be pretty even, but with the Rebels having the greater goal threat, with Sarah driving them forward from midfield and Johari trying to dribble through the defence. Issy brought 3 really good saves out of the keeper with shots from distance and the game finished 1-1 and into extra time. All the pressure was coming from the Rebels, with Freya D and Zoe keeping Bridgford away from Thea's goal and 2 minutes from the end, Issy fired another shot in, that I thought was going to go in the top corner, but the keeper produced another save to tip it round the post.  So 1-1 and penalties, after 3 each it was 1-1  with Freya G, scoring and then sudden death. Both teams struggled to score until Lily confidently scored and we thought that would be that, but the Bridgford keeper slotted hers away in reply. Finally on the 11 penalty, Bridgford scored to win the game and I had to cancel the open top bus for another season.   Well done to the whole team today.

Player of the Match : Zoe

Under 12 Thunder v Heanor Diamonds (Plate)

It was a plate match today. Final score.... 

Heanor 2 Arnold Thunder 11

What a performance from The Thunder today. It took them 10 minutes to f

ind thier scoring boots but 60 minutes later they had scored 11 and hit the woodwork twice!

Lucy pulled herself out of her sick bed and obtained the player of the match...she was sooo ill and the girls covered her up on the subs bench when she lay down....bless.

Goals from Beth(5) Reniyah(3) Emily(3) capped off the best performance of the season. 

To be fair, Heanor never stopped to thier credit but for fear of repeating myself, only 2 of the 14 girls have ever played for a team before and 7 months ago, they had never met....nearly 40 goals later The Thunder find themselves in the next round of the plate.

Go Thunder !!

Player of the Match : Lucy

Under 12 Lightning v West Bridgford Dynamite

We’ve continued to work on passing and shape at training and Sunday was a cold day but the sun was shining and the super squad were ready to come back fighting from last week’s defeat! We also had a special guest spectator this week, Evie’s Grandad came to watch her play for the first time and seemed to enjoy it 😊

The goals for today’s game were to press the player with the ball quickly, keep possession of the ball, take your chances in front of goal and score a goal in the first 10 minutes….  But could they do it?!

With everyone available except Molly, a change of tactic on the subs saw us leave the starting 9 on for the first half and the changes all being made at half time. This was to let the squad settle in to their flow and we saw some fantastic football on the pitch today.

Starting line up saw Captain Kayleigh, Sienna, Keeley and Grace at the back with Evie, Edie, Sharay and Coco up front. They had a bit of a wobbly start with the ball going deep in to our defence but after a few deep breaths, all of the shoulders on the super squad dropped and relaxed, so I knew we were in for a great game. When they have smiles on their faces, they play better football! 

Team goal 1 – to score in the first 10 minutes – SUCCESS

From a goal kick, Coco positioned herself on the edge of the area so the keeper could see her. The keeper struck the ball but Coco intercepted it and passed on to Sharay to fired in to the goal past two defenders and the keeper, a brilliant finish and fantastic assist from Coco after 6 minutes.

Team goal 2 – Press the player with the ball quickly – SUCCESS

All the girls were on it today from a pressing point of view and no one stood and watched anyone go past them. They made their intentions clear by jockeying and having perfectly timed tackles to win the ball. Grace, Scarlett, Evie and Edie did it every time and kept the ball in play to create attacking opportunities.

Team goal 3 – Take Chances – SUCCESS

Coco put pressure on the goal kick again to get an assist for the second goal, the keeper struck the ball down the centre and Evie was lying in wait. Great control on the chest to drive forward and what a finish, not even Peter Schmeichel could stop that one!

Edie pressed hard in the centre of the pitch and went to three players who were passing the ball between them but Edie was showing that she wasn’t going to stop, her hard work set up Keira for an interception and she turned and went, passed it back to Edie who slotted it forward to Chloe who controlled the ball and headed for goal. Another brilliant finish from Chloe who deserved a goal for her persistence and hard work.

We could still take more first time chances and we’ll work on that in the weeks to come

Team goal 4 – Keep possession of the ball – SUCCESS

The girls passed back as much as they did forward today, all of them really thinking about what they’re doing with the ball and growing their understanding of the game. Communication was key today as the calls from behind were there and when the ball came back, that player knew where they wanted the ball to go.

Super Squad doing super things:

Kayleigh – encouragement and communication to everyone with some crunching tackles to push the ball forward

Sienna – being available for a pass back from Grace and placing the ball forward for Coco to run on to – perfect and strong passing

Isla – Holding the line of defence really well, commanding the defence and making fantastic decisions

Scarlett – passing back to Olivia to use her big boot and remaining calm under pressure to deliver one of the most amazing turns and passes I’ve seen

Keeley – running, pressing, passing, following shots, tackling -a  usual Sunday afternoon for Keeley!

Grace – EVERYTHING! Hard work, pressing, tackling, jockeying, passing, decision making, running, support, driving with the ball and creating lots of different attacking plays

Keira – Pressing, jockeying, tackling and thinking about where to pass the ball

Evie – Commanding the centre of the pitch, holding shape, pressing, passing, control, drive and finishing. Her decision making is improving every game and she always gives 100% for her team

Edie – pressing, pressing , pressing, reading the game so well and putting pressure on the opposition to turnover ball, great decision making, communication and impressive movement off the ball. It’s like poetry in motion watching Edie create space and confuse her opponents!

Chloe – ball control, passing, movement, support, communication, work rate and finishing

Coco – well timed runs and ball control, having confidence to take the defenders on and thinking tactically to put pressure on the goal kicks, twice that pressure turned in to a goal, fantastic assists!

Crystal – close ball control, changing direction, taking shots, following the ball and beautiful passes

Mia – timing, looking to stay on side, giving everything on her run forward, controlling the ball and having the confidence to strike. Also made some fantastic crosses after drawing the defence to her

Sharay – speed, grace, strength, control and composure, creating chances for herself and her team mates. A beautiful strike to start of the scoring

Olivia – great decision making and charging out of the box with confidence and authority to boom the ball forward so the team could attack

Full time score was 3-0. Thank you to West Bridgford Dynamite for a brilliant game, they played really well and challenged us to play some of our best football!

GOTG went to Grace The Determinator! She stuck to task for the entire game, never giving up and pressed, tackled, passed, ran, communicated and created a lot of chance for the forwards to attack. This was the best I’d seen Grace play this season, showing fantastic strength, ball skills and confidence to challenge for the ball and really intelligent passes and decision making. Well done Grace, keep up the great work!

We have a break for Christmas now, so we’ll see you in January when we have a few games before the quarterfinal round of the cup! Have a lovely Christmas from all of the Super Squad 😊

Player of the Match : Grace

Under 13's v Keyworth (Cup)

Player of the Match : Rosie

Development v Southwell City

Player of the Match: Jess Quinn

1st Team v Mansfield Town (Cup)

This game was played at Mansfield’s Academy on their excellent 3G pitch but unfortunately a strong wind throughout the game affected both sides, the ball even rolling away when trying to take free-kicks.

 

The wind plus us getting use to the surface and the weight of pass required for accuracy was partially responsible for a very scrappy first half where both teams struggled to keep possession.

We knew Mansfield liked to get the ball wide and use pace to get in behind defences, to counter act this but not take away our own attacking threat we set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. I was particularly pleased with how the players adapted so well to the formation, and the fact that Mansfield only scored once from free play with a 25 yard dipping volley shows how well it worked.

It required both skill and discipline, with Amy playing in an unaccustomed right back role the rest of the defence of Lou in goal, Alex at left back and Shauna and Courtney at centre half gave us a solid platform. Shell and Jen gave extra protection in the defensive midfield positions meaning that whenever we lost possession we had 6 in defence. However when we won possession we immediately had 4 in attack with Ellie S on the left, Demi on the right and Megan more centrally just behind Nat who was pushed up against their last defender.

Despite the scrappy nature of the first half we created several excellent chances, the Mansfield keeper was on fine form and quickly out to deny Nat in a one on one situation. When Nat was clean through again a few minutes later a clumsy challenge from a defender looked like we had won a stonewall penalty. Unfortunately the ref was miles behind the play and gave nothing. This proved a crucial turning point in the half as 3 minutes later a Mansfield player went down despite Shauna not having touched her and from nearly 30 yards away the ref blew for a penalty. This was dispatched and Mansfield took the lead on 20 minutes.

The injustice seemed to fire us up and 8 minutes later we were level, Demi broke down the right and pulled back a pin-point cross to Megan who unleashed a fierce shot from the edge of the box that the keeper could not hold and Nat was on hand to tap in the rebound. The keeper then saved again in 2 one on one situations, one from Demi and another from Nat. Nat was also very unlucky to see a shot bound for the bottom corner take a very slight deflection and rebound off the post. The keeper then had to be alert to prevent Jen’s looping long range shot from dipping under the bar. The score remained at 1-1 as the teams went in for half-time.

The half-time team talk was pretty straight-forward, Mansfield would have the wind behind them in the second half so we needed to retain possession much better, get our simple passing style going and just up our levels slightly, especially in passing and communication. I felt confident the players could do this as we always play better into the wind as it suits us to keep the ball on the deck.

I was not disappointed, players had taken on board what we said and responded brilliantly, playing some really good football in the second half. Mansfield were continually cut open by our passing and we created many more chances. However, it wasn’t to be our day, only 2 minutes into the half there was a clear foul on Shell when she was pushed to the ground with 2 hands in her back, the ref ignored this and 20 seconds later gave a foul against us. Mansfield swung in a great ball and one of their players got their head to it at point blank range, giving Lou no chance and making the score 2-1.

We gave everything but just could not find the finish we needed. Shell and Jen were controlling midfield and allowing us to launch almost constant attacks. Ellie S had run her socks off despite getting a nasty knock from a late tackle so came off after an hour to be replaced by the fresh legs of Henna. This allowed us to keep attacking using Henna’s strength and direct style, twice her through balls set Demi free, the keeper making another good save and the other chance was snuffed out by a lunging defensive block.

Nat was then floored in the box only for another clear penalty shout to fall on deaf ears. Pushing hard for an equaliser obviously left some gaps in midfield but the defence were superb in limiting Mansfield to a couple of long range shots, the first was blazed high over the bar. Unfortunately the second was a sweetly struck 25 yard volley that flew over Lou and dipped under the bar, totally against the run of play. Despite going 3-1 down the players were in no mood to let up and it was Mansfield that were desperately trying to see out the last 15 minutes.

Nat continued to be a constant threat and when Megan, who had really begun to express herself, set Nat clean through on 89 minutes, she slid her shot underneath the sprawling keeper to pull us back to 3-2.

The ref had confirmed only 2 minutes earlier that there was 9 minutes remaining due to stoppage time but inexplicably he blew the final whistle straight from the restart. As I said, sometimes it is just not your day.

Overall I am very pleased with the players, especially for the dominance they showed in the second half and they deserved more from the game. We have played 2 Premier Division sides this season and given really good accounts of ourselves in both games.

Our progress is on track, we have a talented squad of intelligent footballers who can adapt to our various tactics and formations with relative ease but still remain true to our style of simple passing, quick attacking and pressing the opposition. There is a lot more still to come from this squad and plenty of work for the management team to do to help the players realise their full potential. Confidence and belief is growing and it is great to see.

Player of the Match : Natasha Leach