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Immie – GK
Elsie – DF
Esme – DF
Olivia – DF
Sophia – RM
Erin – LM
Ruby – CM
Chloe – ST
Liv – ST
Sub: Annabelle
This weeks match took the Rugby U12’s away to the table topping and currently unbeaten Market Bosworth U12’s on a cold, damp December morning.
Market Bosworth (MB) is famous for its Middle Ages battlefield and the pitch proved to be in the best traditions of the area. Rumours of the Rugby players attending a pre-match party on the Saturday and over indulging on lucozade and birthday cake remained unconfirmed, and Emily, Leila and Ava picked up their respective injuries in completely unrelated circumstances….
The match kicked off with MB straight on the attack and Immie was called into action straight away. She then demonstrated her superb kicking abilities, which have been a highlight of recent displays, with a great clearance to find Ruby in an attacking position. A strong long ball clearance from the defender took a random bounce and an unfortunate deflection fell kindly to an MB forward who shot from close range and made the score 0:1.
Trying to adapt to the conditions, Sophia and Erin started to make wide runs and were looking to find Liv and Chloe with their passes. A good chance for Erin to equalise just went wide and Ruby made the first of several good direct runs. The MB players were making some nice 1-2’s with their shorter passing and another deflection led to their second goal being scored from close range to make it 0:2.
Annabelle came on to add more bite into the midfield and protect the back three. The initial shock of going behind seemed to galvanise the defence and Olivia, Esme and Elsie began to look more composed on the ball and stronger in their tackling. The match became more of a midfield grind of few opportunities until Erin produced a lovely turn and run that was unlucky not to find the net on the stroke of half time.
From the kick off, MB pushed their wide players forward and a cross into the box took another huge bobble that evaded the attempts to clear and a close range shot made the score a rather flattering 0:3. This seemed to inspire the Rugby defenders into an even more committed approach with all three showing their determination to not be beaten again; superb tackling from Annabelle and Esme and great positional play from Elsie and Olivia in dealing with the MB front line.
Erin made another of her great runs on goal and started to be on the receiving end of some robust challenges that left her on the floor but weren’t considered as a foul. Even with some unnecessary on-field coaching by the referee, the Rugby girls continued to show their spirit and good nature with Liv and Chloe clearly enjoying the challenge up front. Sophia and Ruby were combining their attacking positions with some great tracking back and the final action had another last ditch tackle by Esme.
In speaking with influential thought leaders around these type of results, the theme of ‘Process not Product’ is often quoted where the performance isn’t reflected in the result, and there wasn’t the gulf in class between the two sides that the league positions would suggest.
Parents player of the match: Erin
Coaches player of the match: Ruby
Thank you as always to the linesmen for their hard work and the coaches and parents for their commitment and support.