Sunday 27th November 2022
Sponsor: FORD Bros building & Electrical.
Squad:
Alice, Aga, El, Elisa, Jess, Katie, Lena, Lily, Maddie, Maisey, Matilda, Poppy, Ruby, Tanisha.
Rugby Town u13 Lionesses hosted Kibworth u13s today, for their second meeting of the season. Rugby have been maintaining a one point lead at the top of the table, and are currently the only unbeaten team.
Rugby started the game strongly and put the Kibworth goal under pressure. Several good chances were made by Rugby, who could easily have been 3 nil up in the early stages of the match.
However Kibworth were working hard to deny these early chances.
In the Rugby goal, Tanisha was making her second appearance of the season between the sticks. She did really well to take the ball early, during the few chances Kibworth had during the game. She also showed good decision making, in relation to when to allow the ball to go wide, to secure the goal kick.
The Rugby defence featured Maddie, Ruby, Lena and Alice, today. As a unit the Rugby defence has been quite tight this season, and today restricted Kibworth to only a few half chances. They were clearly giving Tanisha plenty of protection, and this allowed Tanisha to grow in confidence as the game progressed. The Rugby defenders were quick to every ball, and cleared the ball with confidence often kick starting a Rugby counter attack.
Katie played in the holding midfield role, which she is really making her own. The number of opposition attacks she broke down, and the great distribution out to the Rugby wide players, is great to watch. She linked up well with Poppy today, and on a number of occasions got some nice one-twos going.
Jess who had been close to scoring very early in the game, when following some nice link up play with the midfield, ran on to a great long ball from Alice to open the scoring.
Rugby 1-0.
The Rugby midfield, which is blessed with some great wide players, took full advantage of their efforts in training, with some great attacking play to get the ball into some dangerous positions. El and Elisa showed great presence and Kibworth struggled to contain them.
Poppy had some great runs today, and on a number of occasions Kibworth just couldn’t stop her. This showed when she took on two defenders, got between them to strike the ball well, beating the keeper at the near post.
2-0 Rugby at half time
Aga and Matilda were also having strong performances. Both girls have some great footwork, but also are very powerful when on the ball, and it’s nice to see them working well together. This bore fruit when Aga, with the ball at her feet, put a high pass through to Jess, who was in the middle of four Kibworth defenders. Jess took the ball well, and burst through the crowd to calmly put it past the keeper.
Rugby 3-0.
Despite Kibworth’s continued fight, Rugby kept up the pressure. Rugby won a corner, Matilda stepped up and delivered a lovely ball into the middle of the Kibworth box. Aga who kept herself moving in the box, positioned herself perfectly, to volley it low to the ground into the Kibworth net, giving the keeper no chance.
Rugby 4-0.
Rugby kept up the great play and ensured Kibworth would not be able to pull one back.
During the second half Lily and Maisey both rotated in, and their efforts in training are showing as they are growing in confidence and starting to read the game.
Final score:
Rugby 4 Kibworth 0
Parents player: Katie, for a great defensive performance, and distributing the ball well. She was also unlucky not to get on the score sheet early in the game with two great shots on goal.
Managers player: Lena, for a calm and confident display in the centre of defence. She is a very consistent and reliable player.
Thank you to Pete for assisting and running the line, and thanks to the parents for their fantastic support of the girls.