Sunday 27th November 2022
Squad
Megan, Daisy-May, Jasmine, Sophie F, Amelia, Macey, Caitlin, Louise, Poppy, Bianca , Ronniee, Izzy, Erin
Sponsors: Oxygen Graphics, Big Wave Campers, Ados, Eclipse Clean
A lunch time kick off at Butlin Road after a week off from league fixtures, many of the girls from both U12 teams had stayed to watch England v USA in the clubhouse after training on Friday, which was really good to see. Excellent buffet from the club although next time maybe a Vindaloo?
Megan returned in goal after a couple of games playing out with Jasmine taking her normal place up front. After 2 solid defensive performances (consecutive 0-0’s) Rugby were looking to get back to scoring a few goals to move up the league table.
Rugby started brightly after starting with their normal tactic of shooting from kick off and almost immediately had a corner. Blaby then started to come back into the game and won a corner of their own that was well cleared by the Rugby defence of Caitlin, Daisy-May and Amelia. The three of them have now developed into a solid defensive unit to protect Megan in goal with also additional cover from Ronniee in midfield.
Sophie then had a fantastic run that resulted in a great cross to cause panic in the Blaby area. Poppy then took a long throw and Izzy was able to produce a good finish to make it 1-0 to Rugby.
Another good throw from Poppy resulted in a shot for Rugby but Blaby came back with a corner and then had a shot that was well saved by Megan.
Jasmine had clearly been listening to World in Motion and following the John Barnes advice to get round the back as she hunted the ball down, got round the back and squared it for Izzy to score a tap in for her second goal. Another ball through resulted in a good save from the Blaby goalkeeper from a left foot shot from Jasmine.
Half time 2-0
No complacency for Rugby at half time, they were clearly happy to be back home and playing well. The Three Lions should watch the video when it is available for a few tips for Tuesday’s game! Rugby started to rotate their players with Erin and Bianca both working hard for the team, Erin with a couple of good runs down the wing and Bianca in the middle using her strength to go past a couple of the Blaby midfielders.
Rugby attacked again and Macey came close to scoring a third goal. After another good throw from Poppy Jasmine had a shot that went just wide. Every Rugby corner caused problems in the Blaby defence and it was great to see what had been worked on in training being used during the match.
Izzy had a couple more chances for a hat trick but both times her shot was saved by the Blaby goalkeeper. Bianca also had a shot that went just wide, Rugby were working hard in both attack and defence with Ronniee covering a lot of ground as usual to support the defence and win the ball back for Rugby.
Louise then came on and had a great bustling run forward after winning the ball from a Blaby defender. Rugby continued to attack with Jasmine putting Izzy through but her shot went just wide. Sophie then had a great run down the left wing and finished well with her right foot for a well deserved third for Rugby. The linesman’s comment was “I didn’t know you had a right foot) after Sophie had scored.
Blaby had a corner right at the end of the game which resulted in a shot going just over. Rugby continued to defend every Blaby attack to keep their clean sheet intact with great clearances from Caitlin and Ronniee.
Full time 3-0 to Rugby, a great performance, all the players worked really hard for each other and they fully deserved the 3-0 victory.
Coaches player of the match – Izzy for her two goals
Thanks to Dave and Dave for all their encouragement during the match and their hard work at training, to Blaby & Whetstone for a game played in the right spirit, the referee and the two linesmen (especially Dean who got all his offside decisions correct), and to all the parents for their support today. Also a special mention to Andrew for directing the gridlocked 11:30 traffic to make sure that all the girls could get to the game on time.