It had been an action-packed couple of weeks for the Rugby Town U15’s, with a friendly against Loughborough Town from the division above that resulted in a 3:3 draw and then the first of a double header against the highly rated Syston Amazons which Rugby Town won in a hard fought contest 2:1. The first challenge of the match was before kick-off with Immie missing her first match for Rugby in over 3 years and Tills showed her Captain qualities by volunteering to go in goal.
Venue: Wreake Valley College, Syston
Your starting line-up for this match:
GK – Tills (c)
DF – Olivia
DF – Ruby D
DF – Annabelle
CM – Ruby L
CM – El
CM – Emily
LW – Japjeevan
RW – Macey
CF – Sophia
ST – Anais
Subs – Masie, Sukhmani, Amy, Aga
With the match kicking off in biting cold conditions, a fast start was needed and an early run through the middle from Sophia brought the Syston goalkeeper rushing out of her area to tackle her, in what was a clear tactic throughout the match. From the resulting clearance, Syston had their first shot on goal which was well saved by Tills and brought cheers of encouragement from the sidelines. The ball was cleared by Ruby D and a lovely move from El created a chance for Anais to run through on goal and get a shot away that was well saved.
This was a match where the girls playing up a year found themselves up against girls much taller and stronger than them, with both Emily and Ruby L. getting stuck into the midfield battle with their opponents and then playing some lovely passes for the wide players to move into space. A tremendous cross from Macey found Anais in the centre and she showed great awareness in playing a pass out to Sophia. Keeping the ball alive under pressure led to Japjeevan taking a shot that just went wide.
From the goal kick, Syston’s dangerous No.7 ran towards goal and there was a superb tackle from Annabelle that cleared the danger and calmly played the ball with some great passing between Ruby D and Olivia in defence to set up the next attack. A fast break from Emily sent the ball to El, who showed her incredible on-the-ball skills to create the opportunity for Macey to run at her defender and once again show her passing quality finding Sophia on one of her great runs into the box with the goalkeeper once again rushing out to clear.
In the first round of substitutions, Aga came on and was immediately in the action with one of her direct runs into the box and a robust challenge that led to a penalty appeal that wasn’t given. The understanding between the attacking front 3 was excellent, with Aga, Japjeevan and Anais all linking up well with each other and creating chances that were well saved. As the first half ended, Syston went on the attack and great 1 on 1 tackles from Olivia and Annabelle again prevented their attackers from shooting and Ruby D was stopping everything in the middle with some incredible last-ditch tackles. Amy came on towards the end of the first half and made some great runs to keep the pressure on Syston and at half time the score was 0:0.
Half time brought a change in goal, with Sophia volunteering to take over the gloves. The Syston coaching team were quick to pick up on the fact that we had a stand-in keeper and there was a definite change in tactics to shoot from range and an unlucky deflection from a wide shot drifted into the net and made the score 0:1. This was very much against the run of play and the girls responded well to this set back. Maisie came on and immediately showed her tenacity and hard work as she tackled and harried her opponents in midfield and played a great pass for Sukhmani to run through on to. Sukhmani showed some great hold-up play in the centre in bringing in Macey and Japjeevan who saw their shots go agonisingly wide.
What followed was a period of concerted pressure from Rugby with Macey, Sukhmani and Tills (back in her usual midfield/defence/everywhere role) all having attempts that on other days would have found the back of the net. Ruby L. had a long shot from the edge of the area and Anais saw her well taken free-kick go just over the bar. A long goal-kick from Syston saw the No.7 again running through on goal, with a great tackle from Annabelle again clearing to El and to make another attacking run with Aga this time being unlucky to not be able to get on the end of a superb pass.
The effort from all the girls was incredible. Ruby L, Emily and Maisie challenging for every ball in midfield. Sukhmani and Masie were dragging their defenders out wide to create space in the middle for Aga and Anais to run into. Sophia was showing lots more confidence in goal and made 2 fine saves as Syston started to use their physical strength to put pressure on the defence and Ruby D was standing tall in the centre. The girls were undone by a great clearance from Olivia taking an uneven bounce off the pitch and falling to a Syston forward who shot from outside the area and just evaded Sophia to make the score 0:2.
Pushed on by Tills, the girls went into the last 10 minutes looking to keep their unbeaten record intact and Anais was again unlucky to see her shot well saved outside the area. The commitment and energy shown was taking its toll on the players and the parents and Syston had a final shot on goal that was too powerful for Sophia to get a hand to and the game finished 0:3.
Parents Player of the Match – Annabelle
Coaches Player of the Match – Maisie
Thank you to the referee who gave a great performance in providing feedback to girls on both sides and managed the game well and to the linesmen for their support.