Sunday 26th March 2023
Squad
Megan, Daisy-May, Jasmine, Sophie F, Amelia, Macey, Caitlin, Louise, Poppy, Ronniee, Izzy, Erin
Sponsors: Oxygen Graphics, Big Wave Campers, Ados, Eclipse Clean, Kelsy Living, Life Investments Estate Agency
An early morning trip to Loughborough to take on the league leaders. The warm weather that had been promised failed to materialise and it was another cold morning for everybody. Some of the parents thought that they had been clever by parking with a pitch view in case of rain only to discover that the girls were playing on a different pitch ,even worse the pitch , which was somewhat slopey, was exposed to all of the elements, especially the wind.
Rugby started off well with a shot from Sophie that went just wide, shortly after Rugby had a corner that almost resulted in a goal. Loughborough then had a shot that just went wide from one of their impressive forward players.
Poppy then had a great run forward getting past the defender to put a dangerous cross in that the Rugby forwards just failed to get on the end of. Almost immediately Loughborough went down the other end and had another shot that went wide after a good cross.
The ball then came out to Poppy just outside the area, an instinctive shot was going just over but the Loughborough goalkeeper failed to catch the ball and the ball went over the line to make it 1-0 to Rugby. The saying that if you don’t buy a ticket you won’t win the raffle sums up the first goal.
Rugby then started to make some substitutions to give Jasmine and Izzy a rest. Louise had a great run forward but was well stopped by the Loughborough defence. After a huge kick from Megan, Poppy had another shot that went wide. Rugby were playing really well and putting together some great attacking moves.
One of the Loughborough forwards then had a run forward that resulted in a good finish to make it 1-1. It showed how dangerous Loughborough were going forward and showed why they were top of the league with such clinical finishing.
Half time 1-1
Into the second half and a couple more substitutions for Rugby. Ronniee had a shot that went wide after a run from Sophie. The game was becoming end to end with both teams looking for more goals . The Rugby defensive unit of Amelia, Daisy-May and Caitlin were impressive again, blocking, tackling and seeing the ball out when necessary Loughborough then had a corner but there was a missed offside with the flag raised but ignored by the referee. This wasn’t an issue at the other end as the Rugby forwards made sure that they didn’t get caught offside.
Loughborough then had a corner that caused a scramble in the Rugby goalmouth, a shot was well saved by Megan but the ball went out to the edge of the box and a good shot was hit back to make it 2-1.
Rugby weren’t disheartened at going behind and immediately from kick off managed to get a corner. Izzy then had a driving run but her shot was well saved by the Loughborough keeper. The interplay between Macey and Jasmine was excellent with Macey having a great run forward which resulted in a cross. Two more corners to Rugby with excellent delivery from Jasmine causing problems for the Loughborough defence. From the second one Izzy was able to get on the end of the corner to put the ball past the Loughborough keeper to make it 2-2.
Poppy then had another great cross that nobody could convert and the ball was collected by the keeper, Loughborough were not done though as they attacked again but were stopped by more great defending by Rugby. Sophie then went on another run forward and unleashed a great shot to make it 3-2. The Rugby supporters were delighted with the goal including the linesman (a goal = McDonalds??) .
Jasmine was then put through and let fly from outside the area only to see the shot tipped over by the Loughborough keeper for another Rugby corner. With 5 minutes to go (I am pretty sure my watch clocked it at 9 minutes) Rugby had another corner. Jasmine rushed over to take it despite being encouraged to take her time to see out the game. 2 more corners followed and both caused problems in the Loughborough area. Loughborough were not finished though, another good cross and the resulting shot went just wide. Heart rate going up for the Rugby parents which went down again when the ball went out.
Full time 3-2 to Rugby, fantastic result away from home against the runaway league leaders. It just goes to show what the girls can achieve, all of the work in training and the effort from every single player today was brilliant and the win was thoroughly deserved.
Coaches player Poppy, great determination to get forward at every opportunity, brilliant throw ins again brilliant energy all through the game
Parents player Amelia, great tackles all game to stop the Loughborough forwards from getting any shots away and brilliant and bringing the ball out from defence.
Thanks to Dave and Dave for all their support during the match, all we could hear from the far side of the pitch was the shouts (drive, drive, drive) of encouragement from Rugby Town’s answer to Clough and Taylor. Thanks to Loughborough for an exciting game, the referee and the two linesmen, especially Dean even though the referee decided to ignore his enthusiastic flagging for offside and finally to the parents for all their vocal support.
