Rugby travelled to Loughborough for the return game versus Loughborough. After a close game earlier in the season against last season’s league winners we were hopeful of a good match.
Rugby started the game well, matching Loughborough in all areas. The game continued to be a close affair as the half progressed, both teams creating chances but not managing to convert them into goals. Hollie and Lauren were a constant threat to the Loughborough defence, and our defence of Alice, Tasha, Eggy and Emily stood firm and coped well with the Loughborough attacks. However, the deadlock was broken after about half an hour. A dangerous cross was played in by Loughborough which Alice was in a good position to clear, at this point she was held back and was prevented from clearing the ball. The referee did not give a foul and Loughborough tapped the ball in to take the lead. The first half was played out as a fairly even game with the one goal being the difference between the two teams. Loughborough are always strong opposition, so to have a competitive first half represented a really good performance from the girls.
Half Time
Loughborough 1 Rugby 0
The second half kicked off and Rugby did not seem to wake up from the half time break and Loughborough scored within seconds from the kick off. The goal did not seem to wake Rugby up and a third goal followed a few minutes later. All of a sudden the good work from the first half was all undone.
Loughborough then grew in confidence and Rugby were visibly a bit dispirited. Loughborough started playing the ball around really well and Rugby were doing a lot of ball chasing. Inevitably Rugby began to grow tired as the half progressed as chasing the ball is much more tiring than passing it around. Loughborough were first to the ball most of the time as they took control of the match.
The Loughborough supporters outnumbered the Rugby significantly and became more noisy as the game progressed, they were appealing for throw ins, corners, free kicks etc. and decisions seemed to going Loughborough’s way. In one bizarre incident Eggy slid in for a good tackle on the edge of the Rugby penalty area, she got a kick on the elbow, the referee gave a corner. After a couple of minutes of treatment Eggy had to leave the field, at which point the referee changed her mind and gave a free kick which Loughborough promptly knocked into the corner of the net. The game was played in good spirit by the players with lots of hard challenges, it just seemed a little unfortunate that Rugby were getting penalised when Loughborough were not for similar challenges. Loughborough are a good team and certainly do not need this type of help.
Anyway back to the game, we had to change things around in the second half as the tough game was taking its toll and numerous substitutions were required as the girls took a few knocks. Rugby were getting pushed back further into their own half as our attacks became less frequent and the defence was under a lot of pressure. The defence performed admirably with plenty of strong tackles to gain possession, unfortunately we seemed to lose the ball quite quickly and were soon under more pressure. In total Loughborough added a further 6 goals in the second half and Rugby did manage to pull a goal back near the end through Hollie.
Final Score
Loughborough 7 Rugby 1
After a really good first half performance it was a shame that the second half did not go to plan. Plenty of positives to take from the game but certainly work to do on being first to the ball, defending as a team and maintaining possession. Football is a tough game if you don’t have the ball.
Something that was obvious to me on Sunday was the level of support Loughborough received versus the level of support Rugby received. I know that our situation is not helped by having 3 parents on the other side of the pitch and also parents needing to be in 3 places at the same time, but Loughborough had quite a big noisy crowd which definitely spurred their team on. The girls do try very hard and I am sure that they would very much appreciate any additional support.
Special mention to:
Megan Evans who has recently rejoined the team as an outfield player. Megan is now a valuable member of the squad with her ability to play in literally every position, and she played in quite a few on Sunday, showing great energy and determination when switched to defensive role in the second half.
Player of the match was a joint decision.
Our full backs Alice and Tasha showed their best form and both had excellent games with their really strong tackling. Tasha must have won virtually every 50/50 challenge, and Alice added to her tackling with some neat passing through midfield, well done to both.