Rugby Town Girls U12s v Leicester City U12s
On a blustery Sunday morning, Rugby welcomed Leicester City Girls to Butlin Road, looking to build on strong recent performances and for their third league win in a row. Currently sitting second in the league, a tough match was envisaged against the team currently sitting on top of the tree, and who had only lost once in the league all season.
Rugby kicked off playing with the wind behind them, quickly trying to impose their passing game against a tenacious opposition. A frantic first 15 minutes ensued, with some strong tackles and tenacious battles being played out by both teams. Leicester dominated possession in the opening exchanges, but some cultured and resolute defending by Bella, Dee and Lara kept clear cut chances to a minimum. On the rare occasion where their defensive line was breached, Rose, back in goal following her excellent outfield display last week, proved more than a match for them, keeping the scores level with a couple of excellent saves.
Going forward, Rugby looked dangerous on the counter attack, with Maia and Mia (starting in a central midfield role for the first time this season) winning the ball from the opposition and quickly putting them under pressure going forward. These opening exchanges re-enforced the pre-match predictions that this was going to be a tight game with very little to separate the teams.
Sophie, playing a lone role up front, was isolated at times as the rest of the team dropped deeper and deeper. This did not stop her leading the defensive line from the front as usual, quickly closing the opposition down and not giving their defenders a minute’s peace. She managed to carve out a couple of half chances for herself, but found the Leicester keeper a difficult obstacle to overcome.
The opening goal came on 16 minutes, with a Rugby corner being cut out and quickly transitioned into attack by the Leicester defence. Rugby struggled to get back in numbers, and the ball was eventually cut back from the bye line to leave the striker with a tap in to make the score 0-1.
Going a goal behind would have seen lesser teams retreat into their shell, but not this group! Rugby did not let their heads drop and continued to battle for every ball. A couple of tactical switches were enforced as the girls felt the effects of the physicality of the encounter, with Emily and Mimi coming on to re-energise the troops. This switch pushed Lara back into the sweeper role, where she put in an effortless display. Emily slotted into centre midfield to bolster the area up, whilst Mimi took up her familiar anchor position to ensure stability in the middle of the park.
The second half began in much the same way, albeit with Rugby facing into the wind making things more difficult. Some good hard 50/50 challenges summed up the effort and tenacity that the girls were showing, particularly two memorable ones from Dee and Iz.
Towards the end of the game, Rugby were able to move the ball out wide on several occasions to allow Maddie to put in some crosses, but unfortunately nobody could get on the end of them. It was a similar story with a couple of slide rule passes from Iz and Maia – there always seemed to be a defender with their toe in the way just as you thought that we were in.
The match finished 0-1 to Leicester, which is was probably a fair reflection given the quality of the opposition. A great deal of credit should be given to the efforts put in by the girls, but sadly today just was not to be their day. They will, however, have learnt a great deal and taken much encouragement from the performance.
NB – Absolute scenes at the end of the game, where post-match fixture confusion led to some parents thinking another game was due, and so departed the arena without completing the traditional “taking the nets down” routine. This is a situation that will monitored closely going forward, and appropriate feedback and action taken. 😊