SY Girls U16s v. Humberside
03/12/2007On Sunday 11th November the U16 girls travelled to Hull to take on Humberside and greater Manchester. Their first game came against Humberside; the girls took to the pitch in their new kit with which to star to a new campaign. The first half performance was remarkable for an under prepared side. The girls took the game to the opposition with a prolonged high tempo attack on opposition goal. Excellent defensive play from Tash Griffths and Katie Denman, allowed the girls to break and counter attack, in style leaving Charlotte Howatson and Carmella Burns chances to score but through a combination of bad luck and good goalkeeping the game remained scoreless. With the rotation of substitutes we maintained the high tempo with the replacements fitting into the game well. Unfortunately although dominating the first half the girls failed to score, Harriett Hill coming closet when hitting the post.
The second half was more of the same with both Katie Denman and Charlotte Ibbotson going close. but ten minutes in the stalemate was broken when more pressure resulted in a goal mouth scrabble and a tap in for Miss Hill. As the game continued and the girls seemingly setting up camp in the opposition 25, Humberside broke quickly and scored against the run of play. The domination of the game continued with excellent play down the left form Jess Watson and Ibbo in the middle creating numerous opportunities, but for a lack of finishing and a scrambling Humberside defence the game ended in a draw. The game left us with a lot of positives, and the need to practice our shooting the following Friday.
Following that performance the girls felt up beat and fancied their changes against a strong well disciplined Greater Manchester side. The game started with both sides trading punches. But through a momentary lapse in defensive concentration and an exceptional piece of individual skill we found ourselves 2-0 down. The hard work and effort displayed in the first game had begun to take its toll, and a fresher fitter Manchester side kept piling on the pressure, but solid keeping from Emma Singleton and sterling defence from Alex Wilkinson kept the score to 3-0 at half time. My halftime team talk was done for me by the girls themselves, who new they could improve, it just left me with a small tactical change to make. By going half-court it allowed us to limit the damage and excellent second half defending by Becca Middleton, and once again Katie Denman allowed us to counter attack and turn some of the pressure back on to the Manchester side. By now the team were starting to feel the pain, form back to back games and the second being a physical encounter, but the commitment to the cause form all the girls especially those playing out of position, was second to none, and the second half looking likely to end in stalemate, but Manchester managed to scrape a fourth as the whistle went.
The girls felt the had we played Manchester first a fair result would have been a draw, and that we could have beaten Humberside at any point, so we didn’t go away to disheartened.
Special mentions must go to captain Katie Denham for her leadership and rallying performance leading the troops.
So Girls, Fans and Parents, lest have more of the same against West Yorkshire and a rematch against Humberside on the 2nd of December.
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