This week’s match is best summarized using the famous old football cliché – “A game of two halves”. The first half certainly belonged to our opponents Albert Foundary but the girls dusted themselves off to win the second half 1-0 in a remarkable turnaround.
The pre-game instructions to the girls were simple, having failed to score last week we intended to attack, attack, attack! Unfortunately this played into the hands of our opponents somewhat. Albert Foundary were a good side and soaked up our pressure before launching their own lightening quick attacks.
The Carryduff ‘keeper had already made two good saves before Foundary scored their first goal after 5 minutes. Our post was struck before goals two and three flew in and it looked like we were in for a hard day, 3-0 down after 12 minutes.
However, rather than go hiding the Ladies suddenly stepped it up a gear, pressing with more intent all over the pitch and attacking with speed and power on the wings. Carryduff forced several corners and throw-ins deep in the Foundary half and had a great chance to reduce the deficit when a defender was robbed on the edge of the box but the resulting shot flashed past the post.
Albert Foundary went on to score two more goals before the break but it was clear they were now in a real game and were not going to get everything their own way.
At the start of the second half our opponents continued to search of more goals but the girls were now looking menacing on the attack themselves. We had a great chance 1 v 1 with the goalkeeper which went wide before finally getting a deserved goal – albeit in strange circumstances! A long range shot was fantastically saved by the outstretched hand of a defender and while most players stopped waiting for the referee to award a free-kick, the Carryduff striker controlled the ball and thumped it into the back of the net. Kudos to the referee for taking his time and playing the advantage and credit to the girls for playing to the whistle!
The remainder of the game was fairly even. The girls looked dangerous on the attack and forced lots of corners and several saves from the goalkeeper while Foundary were thwarted at the other end thanks to some superb defending, excellent goalkeeping and the luck of a post at one stage.
Eventually the final whistle was blown with the Ladies winning the second half, a superb achievement given the happenings of the first period and a first for the girls in the SBYL against a boys side!
This week’s squad was Aime, Niamh T, Maeve, Aoibhin, Katie, Sian, Cara-Beth, Tinnie, Niamh L and Christina
On another note, the girls wound down for the Easter break with a skills assessment evening on Friday night. The intention of the session was to emphasize the importance of basic skills such as ball control, dribbling and passing. We ‘invented’ 5 drills and had a mini competition in what turned out to be a really enjoyable night. Well done to all the girls who took part and remember – We have recorded all the scores so keep practicing to make sure we see improvement at the next assessment!!
Skill 1 Keep-Up Queen
Skill 2 Pass Master
Skill 3 Dribble Queen
Skill 4 Longest Kick
Skill 5 Top Chipper