As expected the girls game today was a tough and hard fought encounter that unfortunately saw our girls go down 4-3 away to Kensington. It was a very entertaining game in which both sides played fast flowing attacking football. Our girls were fantastic and if you got points for being the more dominant side that played much better football then we certainly would have won but as we know its the score board that counts and Kensington certainly made the most of their chances with a very skillful and fast striker who scored a hat trick.
Despite discussion at our pre - game team briefing about being focused and not conceding an early goal we went down a goal within the first 15 seconds without our girls even touching the ball .. I do believe Lee has training drills to prevent this from happening again so girls bring your running shoes at Tuesday nights session. As we pushed forward to recover the situation we found ourselves 2 goals down as the same Kensington striker pounced on a counter attack and slotted the ball home with sharp precision giving our goalkeeper no chance of even contemplating a save. We went into half time 2-0 down despite playing some great football and doing most of the attacking. We were moving the ball around beautifully but our failure to finish and have composure inside the penalty area was costing us dearly.
We came out fighting in the second half and I must say the determination and fighting quality of the girls to contest and win the ball won the admiration of all the parents. Persistence paid off and about 15 minutes in Rovers finally scored after an absolutely blistering solo run by Kelsey who nicely slotted the ball home and yes the girls were back in the game. The girls continued to push for the equalizer and were on fire coming close to scoring several times but as often happens in football a quick counter attack caught us off guard and we were 3-1 down and stunned. We fought back and Jordy bounced on a chance and slammed the ball home but yet again Kensington scored when we failed to clear the ball in defence despite easily getting there first...we did not follow our golden rule of defence...if in doubt put it out! We continued to push forward coming close several times and missed clear chances from some lovely floated corners from Natasha. After some brilliant passing moves we scored again late in the game with Natasha drilling home a well placed shot from the edge of the area. We continued to push forward as Kensington hung on but unfortunately the clock beat the girls but they could be very proud of their effort as everyone had given their all... a great display for their mums on mother day.
A couple of special mentions:-
Natasha from U16 Girls team for a great game and for supporting us as several of our girls were unavailable or injured
Holly for a great game in goal and for making several fantastic saves when Kensington only had the goal keeper to beat.. getting off your line and attacking the ball well Holly
All the girls were determined in their fighting qualities, especially Ellen, Jordan, Kelsy, Carmen and Catherine who never gave up running or tackling. Some of the girls showed real courage taking very heavy knocks and bruises.
Izabella & Jordy for some great passing in midfield... great composure on the ball combined with good vision
Trevor (Jordan's dad) for his first time as our Linesman, bit different to AFL but no worries...
Lets make sure we get Kensington sorted at home later in the year.
Glad to hand the reigns back to Lee, see you all at Training 7pm Tuesday night.
Regards,
Andrew
