East Goscote U8s vs Rugby Town Girls U8 Wildcats – Sunday 16th September
Rugby Town Squad: Freya, Holly, Chloe, Megan, Anna, Matilda
As guest coach today, I had the pleasure of travelling to East Goscote to manage the RTGLFC U8s in their second ever league game.
A 10 am kick off in the sunshine heralded a pleasant match. With friendly opposition, a fantastic referee, great support from parents and a bag full of enthusiasm, the U8s were off!
Freya set the tone of her whole game and was tenacious from the off. Freya covers the whole pitch and plays with such passion and positivity. Rugby had to defend a corner early in the game and did well to withstand early pressure. The ball was cleared and Freya made one of many exciting runs up the right wing.
Megan started in goal, settling in quickly and looking comfortable moving out from a set position to intercept a very attacking East Goscote side. Her goal kicks were very clear today and communication with the rest of the team excellent. She could often be heard bellowing “MARK UP”! Rugby had to defend quite deep for the first half as East Goscote were very keen to run at the goal and took any opportunity to overload the Rugby defenders. Holly was a very comprehensive defender; she was happy to move up and support in midfield but equally, read the game very well and knew when she had to track back. She put the East Goscote attackers under a lot of pressure and was certainly not going to give group up easily.
Matilda was very strong on the ball today and her confidence from just a few months ago has really come on. Matilda swapped for Megan in goal in the second half and her confidence continued. Enthusiastic keeping saw her forget that she needed to stay in the general vicinity of the net. However, she did not shy away from any attempts on goal from East Goscote and delivered a very sound performance.
Anna started to gain some good traction in defence / midfield in the second half and seemed happier to run with the ball and take the challenge to the opposition which was great to see. Chloe had some wardrobe issues, but her on pitch performance was very good indeed. She has a quick turn of speed and is happy to play a very attacking game from up front, quick turns and some proficient on ball skills served her very well.
Rugby were very proficient in dealing with corners, both in defending and delivering, if I didn’t know better I would say Loz and Kat have been drilling them in training! Freya had a very positive run in the dying minutes of the game and it was nice for the girls to finish on a high. The came off the pitch after a great set of handshakes with the other team, with smiling faces.
The team played very well and I was very impressed with some of the on ball skills I saw. More importantly, they are really shaping up to be a great team. They are kind and respectful to each other and very supportive to one another. It was a pleasure to assist them today and look forward to watching them again soon.
Thank you to the parents for bringing the players over to the game and the fantastic support.
Coaches lesson: U8s drink a LOT of water. I’m sure substitutions hit treble figures……
Player of the match – for a simply superb corner delivery – Freya