On a lovely sunny day, both our fab girls' sides completed their seasons today with the U18s away to Harpenden and the U10s home to LGDA.
Our U18 girls' staff - Susie, Charlie & Andy - faced a very difficult task this season, assimilating two teams of players & parents into one squad and fanbase. Their huge efforts and sacrifices paid off in spades and allowed a vibrant squad of 21 young women to get out after lockdown, keep fit and continue social contact. On the pitch, the girls gelled well and have performed admirably against many older sides, putting up a valiant effort today.
Joseph has been in sparkling form this year and finished off our top scorer for the season with another two excellent goals and PoM performance. The game ultimately ended in a 5-2 reverse, but, that's how it goes sometimes and much fun was had in any case.
Several of our existing squad are departing for pastures new or are too old for juniors' football now, however, the team is going forward for 21/22 and an old face is returning to the staff to replace our Susie following her retirement from the juniors' game.
Open training is scheduled from 18:00 to 19:30 on Monday 7th June at Pursley, so any Year 11, 12 or 13s (from September 21) that are interested in having some fun, well just mosey on down there!
At the other end of the age spectrum, our U10 Girls have again sparkled this term under the superb management of Dave & Sarah. This is a great squad of committed and fun seeking youngsters and their improvement this season has been truly amazing and testament to both their talent and the expert coaching they've received.
Today against local friends LGDA, they were rocked when star defensive partnership Mya & Ella were both unable to start due to feeling unwell. Try as she might, Mya was in no condition to play, but, Ella stuck around and somehow summoned the strength to come off the bench in the second quarter and put in her best performance of the year and one that saw her secure PoM. She was constantly stopping LGDA attacks while also adding a new dimension to her game by bursting down the wing al la Lucy Bronze!
The girls scored four excellent goals on the day, with Hazel helping herself to a brace in a season's best performance from her as she fast develops into an incredible No9.
Lucy, our unstoppable midfield dynamo who has enjoyed an excellent debut season grabbed another with a netbuster that flew so fast several people in the crowd thought it was a passing UFO! The final goal was an oggy from a corner after some intense Wood pressure on the LGDA goal.
Kara (or Karadonna as coach Dave has named her) again showed many glimpses of her ever improving ball control and trickery when driving at the heart of LGDA’s defence from midfield and is rapidly blossoming into a dominant playmaker and No10!
While in goal, Emily dominated her area and grew in confidence as the game progressed, deploying as a sweeper keeper to collect the ball and pass to her defenders.
Kiella was again relentless in her efforts on the right and came up against an equally skilled opponent today, having an awesome battle of pace and skill.
While Florence - our midfield destroyer - was her usual tenacious self though playing the game with a beautiful simplicity.
Lottie was back to her very best breaking up LGDA attacks down the right and launching attacks to our very own Exocet missile - Lois - who was targeted to attack the opposition right hand side today, which she did nonchalantly as per usual, creating chance after chance for her teammates.
Theaya had another game for the ages today and is a coach's dream, always ready to sacrifice her game for the good of the team. Today she confidently marshalled the defence and is a stand out operator in whatever position she is asked to play.
Manager Dave summed up the season when he said, "It is my absolute pleasure to coach these footballers and they make me proud every time they pull on that white shirt! It’s a shame it’s the last game of 20/21 but, we will not stop working and will continue to train until next season starts!" Here, here!!