Sunday 4th October
Squad: Ellie, Tasha, Evie, Ava (Captain), Sophia K, Hannah, Izzy, Lucy, Cara, Priya, Robyn, Sophie, Sophia W, Ella
Sponsor: Lisa Collins Hair Design
The first home game of the 2020/21 season saw the team arrive to a grey and drizzly Butlin Road hoping to improve on last week’s performance. Today’s opponents are a strong AFC Leicester side that we have already played in preseason. Rugby trying a brand-new formation, hoping to provide opportunity for stronger defensive play in midfield and space to create positive counter attacks.
1st Half
Rugby started the game with a much more positive attitude and were certainly more committed and confident in their play, settling into the new team formation very quickly and comfortably.
Sophia K, defensive midfield had an excellent half providing strong play and some very useful balls forward. The Leicester midfield had to work very hard to get past her. Cara, right back, was another player who had an excellent half. Still very new to the team, Cara was clearly much more determined show today and its great to see her confidence growing.
Leicester were very strong and quick in their attacking moves, using the width on the wing very well. Their determination to take on the Rugby defence paid off at around 10 mins into the first half with their first goal.
Rugby were strong from the restart, we have spoken as a team about not dropping our heads if we concede, and the team had clearly taken this on board. The positive play was growing, and Rugby were now pushing back against Leicester. Ava, Ellie and Tash were combining well now and finding space to work the ball past the Leicester defence. Tash pushed forward on a good run and took a shot, forcing a good save from the opposition keeper.
AFC Leicester came back on the attack and their right winger player was on fire, streaking down the wing, cutting in slightly and unleashing an absolute cannon of a shot in from a tight angle on the right, and banging the ball into the top left of the next. A very impressive goal indeed, that saw Rugby now unfortunately down 2 goals to nil. Tash’s work rate was great during the half, chasing down the ball and moving into some very good positions. The balls she was providing to the other forwards were clever and accurate. Tash was unlucky today not to score at least 1, if not 2 goals.
Rugby continued on with a very decent spell of football with saw some shots go wide from Tash, Ellie and Ava. If we could just have got a few final touches cleaner, there would have been some Rugby goals here. A Rugby throw in by Ava, delivered to Tash who played a great turn and ball to Ellie who just shot wide. Some great linked play by the Rugby forwards. Only a few minutes later another chance for Rugby, who were keeping the pressure on Leicester, again seeing Ellie just wide of the left post.
An AFC free kick from a Rugby “sprightly” tackle saw a long ball delivered in to the Leicester forwards, catching Sophia off her line, and extending their lead to 3. This led to a period of extending Leicester pressure, which the Rugby side were doing well to defend. Lucy and Sophie in particular we saw lots of action on the left side of the pitch, but were doing a strong job of clearing the ball.
Rugby regained position and this time took a trip up the left wing with Hannah, Tash and Ava working really well together to gain the upper hand, Ava’s shot just over the crossbar. Rugby gathered the ball again in midfield from the goal kick, this time Tash’s shot was on target and the Leicester keeper was called into action to keep Rugby from opening their score sheet.
Rugby’s corner, well delivered by Tash, was cleared by Leicester after a bit of a scramble. Back into midfield and Rugby stopped a developing Leicester charge. The ball back forward for Rugby and a effective play between Ellie and Tash with the through ball just providing a touch to quick from Tash to chase. Shortly after another play from Ellie and Ava saw another shot from Ava saved by the Leicester keeper.
Sophia W was kept busy during this half and her communication with her back three was good. Sophia is not scared of rushing the Leicester attacking players and certainly prevented a good number of shots during the first half. The final minutes of the game saw Rugby holding their positions well and a Rugby corner found Ellie loose, taking a shot on her right foot, a slight lean back saw the ball scream over the bar.
2nd Half
An early corner for Rugby after a Leicester clearance sees Ava’s delivery band harmlessly into the side netting. The inevitable counterattack from Leicester sees a strong break and a rush from goal from Sophia did not payoff this time, allowing Leicester to extend their lead.
Robyn, now on in the defensive midfield position, was providing her usual strong and enthusiastic style of football and winning a significant amount of possession from Leicester. Our opposition continued to play some tidy football, a slight dip in concentration by the Rugby team provided Leicester with way too much space and opportunity, which they were not going to pass up, leading to their 5thof the game.
Sophie swapped in for Sophia K and the back three of Ella, Izzy and Sophie were generally having strong half. Despite a small error from Izzy early in the half, she picked her head up and played some excellent football throughout the rest of the game. A superb clearance from Ella up to Ellie saw Ellie run past the Leicester defence but her shot again, was just too high, and sailed over the bar.
Rugby Town continued to play some nice football and were creating some very good scoring opportunities. One issue we did experience several times today was the weight of the through balls. They tended to be a touch too heavy meaning the Rugby forwards could not reach them before the Leicester keeper came out to collect or kick. If we can work on this issue on the training ground, I certainly feel we can capitalise on this forward play much more.
Ava and Ellie both continued to work hard to cause a problem for the Leicester defence, and worked well with Evie up front. Priya was having a storming game against her very skilful opposite number. Priya, Ellie and Evie linked up to force a scrappy save from the keeper.
Throughout the game Priya, Ava, Ellie and Evie combined, but today was not a scoring day for Rugby and some sliced and wide shots meant we were still chasing our opening goal. However, 100% credit to the Rugby players today for maintaining an excellent attitude throughout the whole game.
Finally a nice combination of passes between Ellie, Evie and Ava, saw Ava collect and shoot from the left for Rugby’s consolation goal. Leicester seemingly were not done with Rugby yet and an intense final few minutes saw quite a lot of action including an injury sub, 2 Rugby shots (Tash and Robyn) saved by the Leicester keeper and a final goal from Leicester.
Summary
Rugby Town 1 – 6 AFC Leicester
Despite the score line, a much improved and more positive performance. The whole team were committee and engaged and they were unlucky that a few more of their shots didn’t result in goals. The new 3-1-3-1 formation worked very well and certainly suited a few of our big kickers.
The team did everything today their coaches asked of them and should certainly not be downhearted by the score line. Lots of positives to be taken from today’s game, not least, a much better passing game! The improved attitude showed in their play. Despite trailing, the whole team continued to push and work hard to reduce the deficit right until the final whistle.
Coaches player: Priya, for an excellent second half on the right wing for Rugby. Priya left her heart, soul, boots and perspiration on the pitch. A great effort!
Parents player: Ava: a very strong performance throughout the whole game, making great use of the new team formation. Ava is always keen to run at the opposition and create chances for Rugby. Ava leads by example.
Thank you to the all the U14 parents for your support and for helping with kit put away, Dave for refereeing and Keith for running the line.