Wow what a game! The girls should take a lot of heart from this performance! Tilehurst are currently sitting top of Division One with an enviable performance record over the last couple of years. Admittedly they only had 10 players for this encounter, which certainly made this job easier, but it was easy to see the quality throughout their team.
We started a little nervy, but the determination to win the ball back when we lost it was evident from the first whistle. For the first 10 minutes or so we were under a bit of pressure, but defended resolutely and looked dangerous on the break. On 9 minutes we were unlucky to go one down after a mistake from Rose but I was so proud of how she put this behind her and made some brilliant saves through the rest of the game.
As in other games we seemed to come alive when Tilehurst scored, starting to pass the ball better and creating more opportunities ourselves. We deservedly levelled the score on 12 minutes when Abigail coolly slotted home a great cross from Maddie. From then on we never looked back going in 1-1 at the break but having some good chances to take the lead. Unfortunately Evie's game came to an end towards the end of the half after taking a ball to the head.
The second half continued in much the same way, our centre midfield of Sienna, Jasmine, Chloe, Izzy and Frances were everywhere giving Tilehurst no time on the ball at all. Defensively Abigail, Neve, Sophia, Dolcie, Bella and Maddie were solid, holding their positions well on the big pitch and never giving up. There were some great through balls being played from Millie, Amalia, Izzy and Abigail and it was from one of these that our second goal came. Izzy playing a brilliantly weighted pass through to an onrushing Maddie who calmly tucked it beyond the keeper. Maddie scored again a few minutes later, this time from a great ball from Ami which Maddie raced onto and tucked past the keeper.
Rose made some great saves in the second half, but our defence was largely keeping Tilehurst at arms length and we didn't look too troubled.
That was until, with 2 minutes to go one of the Tilehurst attackers scored a worldly, with a brilliantly taken shot from distance, and at an angle, that Rose had no chance with.
As the game went on our extra player definitely made a difference as Tilehurst were starting to tire creating more space for our team.

Despite this great performance we still have some things to work on for the new season - in periods we lost our shape a little, our defence was sometimes slow getting out when we won the ball back and towards the end of the game our midfield wasn't tracking back as effectively leaving a large hole in the middle of the park but cannot fault this in our first 11-a-side game.
We will continue to work on dealing with high balls in training.... don't let it bounce!, as keepers are becoming more consistent with the big clearance.
All the girls should be super proud of themselves though, every single one of them fought for every loose ball and chased everything. Bella and Chloe were brilliant, Bella deservedly winning the MIM for a brilliant recovery tackle and charge forward down the wing. Both of them never gave up and made some great challenges.
POM went to Amalia who fought hard for every single ball and made some great passes including an assist for Maddie's second goal.
Well done girls, we have a couple of weeks now with no game before playing our final two games of the season. So proud of all of you today for putting in a brilliant performance against one of the best sides in our league!