Match Report: U11RA 22/03/25

leamington lions U11RA 3-2 sutton united u11

Captain: Immy

Goalie: Jessie

POM: Mia

Goals: Chesca '6, Belle '3, Lyra '15

Thanks to all our volunteers in the car park today, we appeared to out number the cars for quite a while 🚗

We finally got our game against Sutton on the 4th attempt, with the weather gods continuing to smile on us with only a light rain last night all week, which left the pitch in a nice state for the girls to play on.

An even stronger start than last week, with the girls again going ahead in the first couple of minutes and pushing on from there.

First Lily launched an extraordinarily long throw in which found Belle, who used her pace to get behind the oppo defence and found the back of the net using her left - much it her surprise ⚽👏🏻.

Then Orly was released down the left, nipped past her marker and whipped it across the goal only to find Chesca running in at the back post, who neatly fired it home. ⚽👏🏻

The girls continued to pressurise with Immy and Orly unlucky not to add to the score in quick succession. Orly kept at it and again finding herself bombing down the left, she cut inside, calmly passed it across the front of goal, this time finding Lyra who was as surprised as Belle earlier to find herself using her left to put it in the back of the net. A remarkable 15 minute sequence of play and especially considering all three players are naturally right footed. ⚽👏🏻

Having gone 3 ahead the girls started to struggle to maintain momentum, with the opposition begining to force themselves more into our half. Play pinged around the midfield til the opposition cut down their right, got behind our defence, whipped it across goal and fired it past a determined Jessie to drag themselves back into the game. Looking a little stunned the girls ground out the last few minutes of the half.

3-1 halftime

Halftime chat was about regaining momentum and seeing off any potential fight back from the opposition. So not a great start when only 2 minutes in the opposition managed to get the ball out on their left and catch the team off guard by launching a speculative lob at goal which somehow managed to squeeze through the tiny gap presented. Just goes to show the value of trying the unexpected. 👏🏻

So the team were faced by a bit of a challenge, an opposition that had managed to stun them twice and somehow managed to get themselves back into contention in a game that potentially our girls should already have seen off. But the girls reacted well, some good old fashioned hard work stabilised the situation and the oppo weren't able to get another shot off for the remainder of the game. The girls began to threaten the goal, with Mia, Lily and then Chesca in the last couple of minutes all denied by the oppo goalie. The score held and so another win for the girls to add to their group stage tally. 👏🏻

Captains Nominations.

Another great game for Immy, working diligently all game to win the ball and spread it around. 👏🏻

Defence.

Strong work in the goal from Jessie, with her 40 meter big kicks easily the longest and most reliable I've seen from a goalie all season. Another great game for Zariah driving things forward on the right, Lily and Immy controlling the centre but Freya got the nod this week for her work driving play forwards on the left and some notable nifty footwork. 👏🏻

Midfield.

A tight midfield battle throughout, with Belle, Rosie and Immy contesting alot of play in the middle and showing good creativity in the ball, Chesca driving play down both wings, but Mias work rate was stand out throughout and kept the girls ahead in a closely contested game. 👏🏻

Attack.

3 goals from different (but regular) contributors today (extra marks if you used your left🤩) shows the attacking depth the girls can deploy, but Orlys assists were crucial in getting the girls going, with some very assured crossing 👏🏻

Immy had wrestled with it for a second but then judged the midfield battle as pivotal, so after some very strong public speaking explaining her points to the girls, Immy drew things to a close by awarding captains award to Mia for her work rate. Well done Mia🏆👏🏻 another omelette earnt 🍳

Thanks to our Lino volunteers, training is normal time/place this week and we are away at Kenilworth this Saturday for the final cup group stage (details tbc).

Go 🦁