Rugby Town Girls u16s v Harborough Town u16s
The girls dedicated this game to Jake and all wore their ‘Wakey Wakey Jakey’ arm bands, well done girls this was a great gesture.
The was an important game as Harborough are close to us in the league so it was an opportunity to move up the table. Both teams only had 11 players with no substitutes, so we knew it would be tough physically for the girls.
On a pleasant but windy morning the game kicked off and Rugby were playing with a strong wind in their faces. Rugby started the game confidently and were rewarded with a goal by Hollie after 10 minutes. Rugby continued to control the game with the speed of Hollie and Lauren causing Harborough problems.
Rugby were unfortunate not to go 2-0 up when an excellent shot from Hollie hit the post. However after 30 minutes Harborough equalised with a spectacular long range shot. There were no more goals in the first half, despite being the better team we were happy with 1-1 as we had the wind behind us in the second half.
Half Time
Rugby Town 1 Harborough Town 1
The second half kicked off and Harborough started more brightly and deservedly took the lead after 5 minutes. In the past heads may have gone down but not this time. The goal seemed to motivate the girls to up their game as they knew that they were more than capable of winning this game. Some strong words from Captain Kerri made sure that heads did not drop. Rugby were back on the attack and did not waste any time in forcing an equaliser through Hollie after 10 minutes. The goal of the game came after 20 minutes, an excellent in swinging corner from Hollie was superbly finished by Lauren with a bullet header, this was particularly pleasing as we have practiced corners quite a lot in training, 3-2 to Rugby. Rugby continued to have the better of the play but all credit to Harborough who continued to play some really nice passing football and still looked dangerous at times.
After 25 minutes it was 3-3, Rugby momentarily lost their defensive shape and Harborough had spare attackers through on goal. It felt like we had to win this game yet again after taking the lead 3 times. The girls now seemed even more determined to win with plenty of motivation for each other now from all over the pitch, and it only took Rugby 2 minutes to take the lead. Hollie completed her hat trick with a close range shot, 4-3 to Rugby. The last 10 minutes were a bit nervy as the game became a bit end to end, but Rugby did keep the lead and were thankful to Rebecca who made a brilliant save in the closing stages.
Final Score
Rugby Town 4 Harborough Town 3
In summary, a really great game played in great spirit by both sets of players who all played the full 80 minutes. The Harborough officials and supporters are the friendliest in the league so always a pleasure to entertain them. It was also really great to have more supporters this week, thank you to everyone who came along.
It really was a pleasure to see the girls play this week, each and every one of them played really great. They showed great team spirit, great determination to come back from a losing position and great that they were executing some of the things we have practiced in training, maybe they are listening after all.
But most importantly it was a win for Jake.
It was an action packed game so impossible to mention all the good things, they all made me very proud but there was one player who was the difference between the two teams.
Player of the Match was Hollie. Scored a hat trick, and was a constant threat to the Harborough defence. She never stopped running and with her in our team we always knew a goal could be just round the corner.