El Rugbico Sunday 20th November
Sponsored by Big Wave Campers, Oxygen Graphics, Ados Ltd, Eclipse Clean Ltd
Immie – GK, Elsie – DF, Esme – DF, Olivia – DF, Sophia – RM, Annabelle – LM, Ruby – CM, Chloe – ST, Leila – ST
Subs: Erin, Emily, Ava
Rugby Town made the short trip across town to our friends based at Kilsby Lane for the latest El Rugbico fixture. Based on recent fixtures, the use of the Peri-Ometer from a well known restaurant was always going to be needed to measure how spicy this was going to get. This started with the trek across the Lemon and Herbs to find the match being played on the bottom of the extension fields which are rumoured to still be in Rugby….
The Town manager was absent, with rumours of him being in the Extra Hot Qatar yet to be confirmed, so Dave brought his own brand of Chilli and Garlic with him to spice things up. Borough won the coin toss and elected to swap ends before kick-off which felt like gamesmanship from the opposition and took the temperature up to Medium even before the start.
From the kick off the early exchanges were very even, with the physical Borough centre forward being caught offside on three occasions in quick succession by the impressive defensive team of Elsie, Esme and Olivia all showing great positional awareness. Immie continues to be the voice of the team and made early saves to instill confidence in her game as she commanded her area.
The battle in midfield had Ruby and Annabelle showing strength, aggression and excellent technique as tough tackling and then nutmegs on their opponents kept the Peri-Omoter sizzling. Sophia showed her vision with an excellent pass for Leila to chase for the first chance of the match, and she was unlucky to not find the target. Chloe was chasing and harrying in attack and creating space for her teammates.
After the first round of substitutions, Erin came on and made an immediate impression with a great crunching tackle to win the ball and a terrific dribble to attack the goal. Borough’s game plan was clear, with long balls over the top for their centre forward to run on to but her wings were being clipped with superb coverage from Elsie and Olivia. On the rare occasion she made it through, Esme was able to take over with a particularly superb clearance that the linesman was unlucky to catch in the giblets.
With the score at halftime being 0:0 the bottomless drinks were taken and the second half kicked off with some tactical changes and Emily showed her impressive recent form with some excellent skills and a particularly impressive turn and pass to create an opportunity for Erin.
The personal battles were going on all over the pitch, with Elsie showing incredible tenacity in dicing with her opponent. Ava showed her usual close control that frustrated her opponent to commit a foul. The tension was getting to Hot levels, which was too much for some fans who had to leave and others who were getting their feathers in a twist.
Ruby was showing her strength and quality in patrolling the midfield, and a great pass to Chloe created an opportunity for Sophia who shot just wide. The action was centred in midfield with hard work and commitment from Emily and Annabelle limiting the amount of chances created. Events started to become Extra Hot as the strong and tough defending to keep Borough’s danger player in check started to lead to some robust challenges that the Town girls seemed to genuinely enjoy.
In the final stages, some brilliant centre forward play from Sophia showed her strength, skill but also great temperament as she was caught on the thigh. From the resulting play, Chloe was unlucky to see her shot go wide. Immie made a number of impressive saves when things were getting a bit cheeky and quick clearances that Leila showed her willingness to run on to. As the game went into its final stages, Erin made a great run but couldn’t beat the last defender. In the last action of the match, a superb pass from Ava to Ruby broke through and Sophia hit a superb shot that hit the post and went wide.
The match finished 0:0, a superb team performance from Town and a noticeable improvement from the last time these two teams met.
Coaches Player of the Match – Elsie
Parents Player of the Match – Ruby
Thank you to all the officials for keeping the game being competitive as a local derby should be.