Rugby Town U8s vs. Blaby and Whetstone U8s Sunday 8th October
Team Sponsors: Kelsy Living and Life Investment EstateAgents
After an exciting away game 2 weeks ago, Rugby welcomed Blaby & Whetstone at home for what promised to be another fantastic match-up. The team this week was made up of Ada, Flossie, Paige, Primrose, Maisie F, Phoebe and Sophie
The match started with Primrose, Flossie, Sophie, and Maisie, with Paige in goal.
Straight from the off, the pressure was on from the opposition who knew they were up against an equally capable team at Rugby, but some good defending by Maisie and Floss worked well to fend off the initial attack.
After a couple of minutes, Rugby had settled down and excellent tackling by Maisie and a lovely drag-back skill from Sophie turned into a retaliative push by Rugby. With Primrose showing her usual speed, able to cover a very long midfield area, and lovely passing from Floss and Maisie, Rugby was showing increasing signs of working together as a team. Paige showed her quick reactions in goal.
Ada and Phoebe came on to replace Maisie and Primrose. Ada showed fantastic determination in defense alongside Floss. Phoebe stepped up her determination with thoughtful marking and chasing down tackles without hesitation to allow Rugby to continue to press. The opposition was defending well and still pushing hard in response, but Rugby was able to win a number of corners, one of which was struck beautifully by Sophie with contact and lift that a more senior team would even be proud of. Ada demonstrated she understood the best place to position receive passes and Phoebe continued to be a huge thorn in the side in midfield, being absolutely determined to make great tackles and runs.
Rugby was playing so well together as a team and the half finished with the game hanging in the balance.
Going into the second half, Primrose came back on and Paige passed her goalie gloves to Ada and headed out to join midfield. Ada played really well in goal, with a confident performance and coming out to meet the incoming attacks and close them down. Paige got stuck in and made some great tackles in midfield and there was some lovely link-up play between Sophie and Maisie.
Rugby was feeling a lot of pressure from the opposition, but held an impenetrable defense for long periods, particularly by Primrose who was able to thwart the attacks and release balls out to Sophie who made some lovely, skillful, running breaks in return.
Floss and Phoebe came on for Paige and Sophie and both played well in midfield, with Floss using some lovely footwork on the ball. Another impressively long run by Primrose, keeping up with and then tackling the opposition’s fastest up-front player.
By the end of the game, Rugby had demonstrated more than ever how well they had gelled as a team. The match didn’t disappoint and was as exciting as everyone hoped.
A fantastic performance by all.
Players of the match:
Coaches – Flossie
Parents – Phoebe
Players – Sophie