Rugby Town U13 v Croft -

Rugby Town U13’s Vs. Croft U13’s – Butlin Road, Rugby

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Your Rugby Town U13’s Team for this match:

GK – Immie, DF – Esme, DF – Olivia, DF – Elsie, CM – Ruby, CM – Ava, LM – Emily, RM – Sophia, ST – Japjeevan

Subs – Chloe, Annabelle

A Happy New Year to everyone and a great start to 2024 for teams wearing Sky Blue. With Coventry City winning their cup final on Saturday, the pressure was on for the Rugby Town U13 girls to keep the momentum going from their impressive recent form, with them now being unbeaten since the 3^rd September. An early 9.30am kick-off on Sunday brought the team from Croft to Butlin Road, and recent matches between the two sides have been evenly matched and always competitive. Sadly, our usual Assistant Referees were unavailable so it was an opportunity for everyone to observe some new talent showcasing their abilities at running the line.

The concerns about the early kick-off having an impact on the energy levels of the girls were quickly dismissed with some excellent passing from the start between Ruby, Emily, and Ava that the opponents were struggling to keep up with. The early pressure was on the Croft goal and chances were being created with great use of the wide players, with Sophia in particular finding space on the wing. A hallmark of the U13’s has been the solid defensive base, and the early exchanges brought some strong tackles from Esme and Olivia against the quick forwards that Croft have and the confidence that they could handle their opponents. The pace of the play and tempo was faster with some great movement upfront and neat triangles of passing with Emily and Sophia out wide being linked by Japjeevan.

Some neat one-two’s and crisp passing had the Croft defenders twisting and turning and even the referee had to stop to tie his laces as the pace of the play was keeping him on his toes. Several free kicks were awarded as some tackles were mis-timed and what looked like a superbly timed tackle from Esme against the strong Croft centre forward was given as a free-kick, which seemed very harsh, but the shot was comfortably taken by Immie. A superb goal kick found Sophia out wide who was able to make her usual excellent runs with the ball and now with quality passing inside the box that caused havoc, with Ava and Ruby both having shots that were scrambled away by the Croft goalkeeper and Japjeevan having a shot that went just wide of the near post. A long ball from the goal kick had the Croft forwards were breaking towards the Rugby goal and Olivia was able to show her positional sense and strength in marshalling the ball out for a throw in.

With pressure from Chloe, the ball broke to Ruby in midfield and she was able to find Sophia in the centre of the pitch. With the Croft team pushing forwards, Sophia was able to make a pass forwards into the space created for Japjeevan to run onto, and she showed how her confidence is growing by shooting from the edge of the area into the bottom corner of the net for 1:0. Croft went on the attack from the kick-off and Elsie made an excellent tackle to win the ball back and rather than just lumping the ball forward she confidently played the ball across the back line through Esme and Olivia. Ruby was linking up well with Annabelle and a great pass found Chloe out wide and her first-time shot was unlucky to go just wide. Another long clearance from the Croft goal kick had their forwards breaking towards goal, but the trialist Assistant Referee demonstrated his eagle-eyed skills with a great offside decision. Annabelle took the free kick and with a superb pass found Chloe on the left of midfield; demonstrating some great vision she played an incredible through ball for Japjeevan to once again demonstrate her pace and an outstanding shot across the goalkeeper went into the far corner of the net to make the score 2:0 at half time.

The second half began with Rugby going straight on the attack and again it was from the wide positions that they were having success. Chloe made an excellent run and shot, and was unlucky to see it hit the far post. Another through ball from Chloe found Annabelle in the unusual position of being up field in an attacking position and she was unlucky to see her shot go just wide of the target. With the midfield being dominated by Ruby and Ava, Croft were using long balls to try and counter-attack and Elsie and Olivia were increasingly shielding and tackling their opponents leading to a succession of throw-ins and then a corner. A hopeful cross from a corner kick found its way through several legs that left Immie unsighted as it somehow found its way into the net for 2:1.

Clearly annoyed by this, Immie took the next cross with confidence and an excellent catch allowed her to play the ball quickly to Ava in midfield whose first-time pass found Sophia breaking through on goal and under incredible pressure from the defender she cooly placed the ball into the net and restore the two-goal advantage and made the score 3:1.

One of the most satisfying aspects of the match was the quality of passing and the time on the ball that confidence can bring and the ability to play around an opponent rather than just trying to go through them was fantastic to see. With great blocking by Esme, covering by Elsie and the calmness of Olivia the defence was not only protecting Immie in goal but also allowing the midfielders to pick out their teammates. Emily, Annabelle, and Ruby were finding each other with some excellent play and a terrific pass into space allowed Japjeevan to once again show her shooting prowess with a shot that the Croft goalkeeper did extremely well to get her hands to but couldn’t prevent going into the net and making the final score 4:1. Japjeevan was able to complete her hat-trick, but sadly Annabelle still wasn’t able to complete her own personal version against Croft.

A superb team effort with great football being played and one of the most impressive performances from the U13’s, the task of picking a player of the match was incredibly difficult.

Coaches Player of the Match – Olivia

Parents Player of the Match – Chloe

Thank you as always to the referee and officials and the parents from both teams who braved the cold weather and early start.