The U13B girls gave a very spirited performance in which they were drenched in the first half! Having conceded two early goals in the opening 10 minutes (against the run of play), we battled back and Bea smashed home the ball which popped up mid-air - all that practice in the cricket nets in the summer had clearly paid off! The girls worked tirelessly with Dulcie and Lexi on the wings creating good width. We had many chances to score but were thwarted by a particularly strong Dollar defender and when she was beaten, their goalie made some terrific saves to keep the home side in the lead. We lacked a little bit of composure in front of goal and struggled to pass the ball accurately around the defence to find a way to score. We did think we had the equaliser late on in the second half when centre midfielder and captain, Jess shot from outside the D and Bea deflected it into the goal. However, their umpire overruled it saying that Bea didn't touch it! Frustration and no VAR available. Amalia and Nadia made some good tackles in defence and Natasha blocking a few shots. We had much of the ball and credit to the girls for keeping up the pressure on the Dollar defence but it stood firm and in the final minute we were pushing for that equaliser; after the Dollar goalie made another great save, they broke down the other end and got in behind our midfield and finished clinically to secure the 3-1 win.
Although they passed the ball better than us, possession stats would tell you that we didn't deserve to lose by 2 goals and a draw would have been a fairer result.
Player of the match was Tessa who played in a defensive midfield position and did not stop running. She disrupted the Dollar attack on numerous occasions and played with her head up after making the tackle.
Well done to all the girls for keeping going and providing what was an exciting spectacle.
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