u 13 vs Abbey Lane

It was a beautiful morning and the prospect of a trip to Abbey Lane didn't spoil it. They have a lovely flat pitch, slightly narrow (there's about a yard between the edge of the box and the sideline) with no parking. They topped their division last year and so we weren't expecting it to be easy, and it wasn't. Both teams were keen from the whistle, with some great passing play from the Crosspool girls. AL scored first with a overhead ball which sliced the defense open and they took full advantage of the break. Crosspool equalised through a screamer from Lucy, a full on kick from way out on the lefthand side, into the top right corner, a fabulous goal. Play was clean and skilful on both sides, Crosspool having more of the possession and more chances on goal, with AL making snappy breaks through the middle. Tal was tireless on the wing, going infor, and winning some crunching tackles, 'the bigger they are the harder they fall' seems to be her motto,Cari, Eleanor, Leonie and Ellie were working hard to clear their lines and keep the ball down the other half. On the next attack, Kate bounced the ball of the back of one of their players to take Xpool into the lead, only for AL to equalise with another swift goal, ref judged the player to have been played onside, I'm not sure. Alaya had a good game, working hard in mid-field, supporting the forwards and yet not afraid to go up herself, she used her speed to pass the defense and then was aware of others on her team and passed the ball onwards effectively. Tyler took the ball up to the goal several times, through several waves of defensive players but was unable to convert today. Rebecca and Yas worked well together in the box to scored from the right and AL equalised again. Lucy scored her second goal in similar style to take Crosspool ahead. She had really found her form and had 4 more shots which the keeper would not have saved, but they went agonisingly wide. Hannah was quick to get the ball out of her area, responding to shouts from her team, or screams from RM !!! Finishing score line 4-3.

A good team effort again this week, well done everyone.

u13s get off to a rip roaring start

An impressive start to the season by the u13 girls, 9-0 against Worksop town. The Crosspool girls were on form, pushed forward from the whistle and dominated the play for the whole match. 10 minutes in the WT girls were getting a tad frustrated and a defender brought the ball down with her arm in the box. Lucy stepped up to the spot and slotted it away. You might say we gained a psychological advantage from that first goal, but I don’t think it really made a difference, the writing was on the wall already. Rebecca Miles took a beautiful last touch on the right side of goal to finish a run of passes starting at the mid-field. There were several other shots on goal saved by their keeper, and a few off-target ones ! Cari, Hannah(in goal), Eleanor and Leonie were not troubled too often, attacks were broken up, pushed off the sideline or the ball tackled away. Ellie had an ongoing tussle with a WT player, both were determined on the ball and it escalated to full-on barging, both giving as good as they got. Ellie side-lined many WT attacks with her shoulders.
The second half started with a 6 touch, 10 second goal, the first of Tyler’s hat-trick, embarrassingly easy; excellent football; great result. There were goals from Yas, Lucy, Tyler, then another penalty, handball in the area again, Hannah came out of goal to score that one, then there was another one from Tyler, and one from Yas. I seem to have missed a goalscorer, sorry, you’ll have to mail me and tell me who it was !
I think the keen start is due to the flurry of friendlies they played at the end of the summer and the fitness training they have obviously been doing. Keep it up Crosspool girls.