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Rugby Town U11s made the long trip to Oakham to play Royce Rovers on a cold but sunny Sunday morning. Morale was high as the girls were looking to develop on some much improved performances in recent weeks.
Corner and throw in work in training is paying off with some awesome corner deliveries by Hannah and Tasha. Thrown ins are showing great improvement with all the girls starting to think tactically about what they want to achieve from their throw ins. Most notably, in the second half, Ellie and Amy combined brilliantly to execute an almost perfect thrown in, with Ellie getting great distance and space down the wing allowing Amy to put in a perfect turn and movement off with the ball.
Defenders and midfield were kept busy today, with Ellie, Issy, Ava, Amy and Hannah, all spending some time in defence or defensive midfield positions. All of them displayed much more tenacity and enthusiasm, which is a delight to see. Ellie made some very good clearances, Issy had great player awareness today and Amy and Hannah were called on to do an lot of running and interception.
Sophia had a very strong game in goal and her communication with her defenders is exceptional. After the game, the opposition coach came over to say to Sophia that she looked forward to watching Sophia playing for England one day! Fantastic Sophia!
With the increase in enthusiasm came a little drop in positional awareness, as several girls were so focused on getting the ball, they had little jollies all over the pitch. This is an area we need to be mindful on in future games.
A few position changes meant that some of the players were in positions unfamiliar to them. They all stepped up really well and it has given us a good idea of where players are naturally more suited to play.
Ava had a good period in a more forward position and teamed up well with Kelsey, Tasha and Evie. These girls are really developing a great relationship up front and managed to put together some really good play. Continued encouragement and practice will, I’m sure, really help to develop our attacking play.
The team struggle a little between the transition between training on 3G and playing on grass, so I will be asking for advice from the more senior coaches to see what we can do to improve in this area.
I am very proud of the girls, as I hope they are of themselves, as they gave a very good account of themselves today and truly play in the spirit of fair play and fun.
I look forward to Friday night training and the continuing league season.
Coaches Player of the Match, for commitment and passion in only her second Game – Ava
Parents Player of the Match, for exceptional work rate and great team direction – Sophia