girls u12s blown out of the cup

There was no reason to lose this match. Wickersley are 10 points below us in the league and we have beaten them 3-1 and 4-1 before drawing 0-0 last week. I didn't see the first 10 minutes, but when I got there to find Crosspool losing 1-0, I expected the Crosspool girls to be fired up and pushing for the equaliser, they weren't. It was cold and windy, but that's the same for both teams. All I can say is that Wickersly were more determined; they chased every ball, went for 50/50 balls as if they would win them, challenged players with the ball and put pressure on. Some Crosspool players had moments of skill, some runs with good passing,each one showing that they have the skills to play much better football, if only they would believe it. When this team play at their best, Wickersley would be no match for them, yesterday, they deserved the win.

u12 11-a-side

Sheffield 1 – Crosspool 2
Both teams had 11 players, just the right amount, some might say; I would prefer to start with a couple of spares and counting the players on the pitch became a feature of the game.
The teams were evenly matched, every ball was fought over and it took ingenuity to scrape the ball out of pockets of feet.
About 20 minutes into the first half, Yaz broke free from the pack and the keeper came out to block her off, she did her usual ‘ball one way – Yaz the other’ and was past the keeper with an open goal just yards away, she scored.
Crosspool had a few more chances in the first half which SU had managed to cut off with some desperate hacking in the box. Bex wasn’t troubled too much; Cari, Ellie and Sally did a fab job of clearing the ball or playing the off-side trap; when the ball did come to her, she took it confidently and fed it out to get Crosspool back on the attack. One scramble in the box saw the ball bounce up and hit Rebecca on the arm, a few minutes later (I know it's a difficult job) the ref decided that handball had occurred in the box and gave a penalty. We all held our breath, Bex got herself ready and went for the ball but it was high and hit the crossbar, there was a scramble to clear it and then it was back down the other end. The score stayed 1-0 ‘till half-time.
A bit uncomfortable for us; very uncomfortable for them.
Crosspool’s second goal came soon into the second half, from a lovely set of passes, mid-field through to Yaz, she outran a defender and went for goal, just as another defender was closing her down, she looked up and passed wide to Hannah; a couple of touches and GOAL!!!!
By now the SU girls and supporters were a bit fed-up. Cari cleared the ball down the line and then had her legs taken out from under her, she got up and stood indignantly, hands on hips, shouting ‘foul’ at the ref; luckily he agreed with her and the free kick was given.
SU snuck a goal, not sure how and then the battle really broke out. Both sets of girls were also brushing off injures to stay on the pitch if at all possible, a SU player got a ball in the face at close quarters, but she refused to leave the pitch, Sally made a tackle which stopped a SU attacker in full flow, unfortunately the player stood on her ankle and she had to come off. She went back on a few minutes later, brave girl.
I think it was 15 or 20 minutes from the end…. but they were up to the challenge and had several more chances, looking more likely to score again than united. A great match to watch with skilfull play and hard work on both sides.

not the result we wanted

Crosspool vs Handsworth

Squad : Beccs, Tal, Cari, Lucy, Hannah, Sally, Ellie, Eleanor, Rebecca, Yas, Alaya, Kate.
The American football final is called the superbowl. The pitch at High Storrs is a bowl but it is certainly not ‘super’. As last year’s u13s will testify, it is far from ideal. Anyway, enough grumbling about that, onto the match.
There were 2 girls making their debut for Crosspool today, Rebecca and Sally, and the team haven’t played together in this format before. As you can see, I’m getting the excuses in first.
Handsworth started well and scored the first within 2 minutes. To be fair, most of the Crosspool girls were watching to see where Rebecca’s boot would land, as it had come off when she cleared the ball from the box.
Ian (who was reffing) had to have a word with a H player who pushed the ball back into play, even though she was a sub at the time !!. The next goal was a long shot into the box which Beccs had covered, but it bounced and went over her head. As Xpool were attacking, Yas thought the ball had gone out of play and picked it up to take a quick throw-in. unfortunately, the ball had just crossed the side-line of the keeper’s box and a free-kick was given. The next free-kick was for a H player who trapped the ball with both forearms across her chest, I totally understand why…but a free-kick was given. Handsworth earned themselves a corner and the 12th xpool player came into play, ‘she’ blocked the ball and prevented the cross…unfortunately a tree is not allowed to play and so the corner had to be taken again lol. Very soon H scored another goal, can’t tell you how, I was busy buying a raffle ticket…. that reminds me… who won?
Crosspool did show some of their skills, there a few runs of good passes, Lucy to Cari forward to Kate across the width of the pitch, Sally and Hannah were up and the H keeper had to make a save. A little later Tal put Yas through the H defence, but she was off-side. Ian blew his whistle and then the H supporters told him that she was off-side, quite loudly and pointlessly, since play had been stopped. Kate had some nice runs up the wing. Eleanor did her usual trick of pushing players wide until the ball went off the pitch and Ellie was clearing the line. Xpool had a shot which went wide, and they found a bit of confidence. Ian was having a difficult time, supporters trying to tell him his job, having to run up and down, eventually it all got too much for him and he lay down on the pitch for a kip. Well, ok, he fell over backwards and got a round of applause. Beccs made a fab save just before the end of the first half, she was running to the right to cover a ball when a shot went past her, it would have gone in but she stuck out a leg and pushed it wide. Going into half-time 4-0 was not really in the game plan, we wanted to see the girls working together and showing off more of their skill and talents, what ever was said had some effect as soon into the second half, Tal made a fab pass to put Alaya through the defensive line, she pushed the ball forward and ran after it, the H defenders looked like they were glued to the floor as she scampered pass them, just the goalie to beat….. and she kept her cool to slot the ball home HOORAY.
H scored 2 more. Then Alaya had another go at out running the opposition, she did the same thing, but unfortunately her shot went wide.
Rebecca scored on her debut for the club, there was a goal-mouth scuffle and the ball came back to Rebecca, who shot through the forest of legs past the unsighted keeper HOORAY again.
H scored 2 more and then the post match talking started……..