The U15s travelled to Aylestone Park FC to play Leicester City Ladies in their League cup quarter final.
With a delayed KO due to the previous match running late, a shortened warm-up meant the girls started still slightly cold. Whilst Rugby were slow to start, Leicester came out fighting and gained a corner inside two minutes. This was not going to be all Rugby’s way as previous outings had suggested it might.
With Leicester piling on the pressure, it was down to Chloe’s persistent battling for the ball that allowed Lauren to find the back of the net 12 minutes into the first half. 11 minutes later a through-ball from Holly found Flick who promptly netted it to make i2 nil.
Leicester though, refused to back down. They dug in, often finding their way through a sometimes gappy Rugby midfield. When the defence couldn’t hold firm, a confident performance from Rugby’s substitute keeper, Emily, meant Leicester couldn’t capitalise on their strong first half performance.
The weak spot in Leicester’s play was their determination to play down the wing. More than once, Rugby found their way down the centre of the pitch. One such run from Lauren, saw her score her second, Rugby’s third, as the clock hit 30.
Playing on the full size astro, and with play continually moving, Rugby started to tire as half time approached. Try as Leicester might however, they were continually denied their chances. Rugby managed to hold tight until the extremely welcome half time whistle.
With a 3-0 cushion going into the second half, Rugby were keen to extend their lead but Leicester were determined not to let the game get away from them. Some light relief for Leicester came as a goal ,on the end of another Lauren run, was disallowed as offside in the 48th minute. It was 15 minutes into the second half before Rugby were able to extend the score-line to 4, with a superb through-ball from Lauren to Holly, who duly netted it with precision.
Leicester weren’t without opportunities but luck seemed to favour Rugby today. Some fortunate help from the goalposts (during a spell in the box that could be mistaken for a game of pinball wizard) denied Leicester any real hope of pulling the score back.
With less than 15 to go, it was Flick’s turn to take a run down the centre allowing for a relatively easy tap in past Leicester’s keeper. 5 – 0 Rugby.
In the face of certain defeat, Leicester still refused to back down, finally scoring with just 3 minutes to go. Whilst Rugby looked tired, Leicester played to the very end and perhaps deserved a much closer score-line.
FT Rugby 5 Leicester City Ladies 1
Special mentions to both Emilys. Emily H gave a superb performance in goal and Emily C who continually got stuck in at the back despite leaving the skin from her knees all over the astro!
The U15s now meet Coalville Town Ravenettes in the Semis on April 8th.
15s sponsored by Jim Worthington