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.

Crosspool u10s versus Manchester City

Manchester City U10s 3 Crosspool JFC U10s 2

Crosspool JFC Girls Under 10s continued their preparations for their forthcoming Cup Final against Worksop Girls with a trip to Manchester to take on Manchester City Ladies’ Under 10s side. The game was agreed to be played in three 20 minute spells.

The City girls, like the Crosspool girls, are at the top of their own league, unbeaten and 3 points clear with a few games left to play, and have just won the Manchester 2008 Easter Tournament without conceding a goal, so we knew we were going to face a stern test. So it proved, as the match kicked off with Crosspool a little off the pace and the Manchester girls threatening to roll over us, with pace, power and technical ability throughout the side, combined with a fierce competitiveness. Some strong tackles from Ayesha Khan and Laura Ridal at the back and a couple of great saves by Crosspool’s Under 9s keeper Sophie Tomlinson (on loan for the evening to cover for the unavailability of the Under 10s’ regular keepers) steadied Crosspool’s nerves and allowed the midfield to start to win some possession and work the ball forward themselves.

The game was by no means one way traffic, although City had more of the possession and more shots. Nevertheless, it was Crosspool who took the lead in the second period through a good attacking move.

The City players were a handful in every department, and all the Crosspool players really had to step up a gear from what they have been used to in their own league. None of the players played badly, but several performed exceptionally well. Ayesha Khan was one who really answered the challenge laid down by City. An absolute warrior in defence and at the back of the midfield, she tackled bravely, distributed the ball well, and on several occasions made excellent recovery runs half the length of the pitch to shut down a break by the City girls. Well done, Ayesha! The rest of the Crosspool defence also stepped up to the mark, with captain Laura Ridal the usual rock at the back, frequently tackling girls twice her size with excellent timing, and Sophie Tomlinson in goal facing up bravely and competently to some intimidatingly powerful attacks. Eve Sharman in the centre of the pitch played excellently, and for a lot of the time kept City’s main threat under control. Eve was also a threat herself on the attack, linking up well with the wide players and with forward India Thompson-Carr. The wide players (Caty Murray, Lucy Cousins, Lucia Wood-Bonelli and Ellie Bird) all played well too, facing the toughest of combinations – pace, power and skill. Ellie in particular was very combative and played perhaps her best game yet for Crosspool. Up front, India faced for the first time defenders who could match her pace and also put in strong well-timed tackles. Nevertheless, India was always a threat and combined well with Eve especially to work paths through the Manchester defence. The City defence were fantastic, and it is hugely to the Crosspool attackers’ credit that they were able not only to score two goals but also to stretch them repeatedly, although in the end the sky blues’ defence was mostly up to the task. I firmly believe they knew they’d been in a serious contest by the end, though!

The opening goal came from quick Crosspool passing in the City goal-mouth, which saw India playing the ball to Caty, who dummied the ball through to Eve. Eve took the ball round the City keeper and stabbed it home.

Manchester City equalised late in the second period through their captain, a girl who was a constant threat while ever she was on the pitch not just because of her size and strength (she was probably twice the size of most of our girls) but also because of her technical ability and will to win.

A 1-1 result after two periods would have been a result to be proud of for Crosspool, but there was a third period to be played and unfortunately as Crosspool tired the City captain broke through twice more. At 3-1 behind, it looked again as though the floodgates might open, but India had other ideas. A corner was taken short by Ellie to Eve, who beat her marker and put in a strong cross, which was met by India with a cleanly taken volley into the City goal that brought the score to 3-2 and a respectable result for all. Player of the Match for Crosspool was a difficult decision, as all the Crosspool players had to play above themselves, and all played well. Overall, though, Ayesha’s contribution and attitude of absolute determination to compete for the team was second to none, and she gets the award this time.

Our thanks go to the Manchester City parents and manager for a warm welcome and an excellent game of football, and also to the referee provided by the home side, who was great.

Team: Sophie Tomlinson, Laura Ridal (captain), Ayesha Khan, Eve Sharman, India Thompson-Carr, Ellie Bird, Lucy Cousins, Lucia Wood-Bonelli, Caty Murray

Girls on Tour

You put your left foot in...


Two u12 girls teams went to Holland over the Easter Weekend, photos are availble on photobox, e-mail steph for the link.
The girls were playing in an under 13 tournament and came a creditable 8th and 16th, against some much bigger girls.

Under 9s vs Millmoor

Team
Sophie Tomlinson
Charlotte Keir
Jessica Grant
Jeannie Banks
Lydia McCormack
Evie Herbert

After their first defeat against SWFC, title winning complacency had crept in with the girls. How would they respond to tougher training sessions? Can they get back to winning ways against the divisions in-form side?
All this looked impossible when the news filtered through that we had got only 6 players 6 vs 7, no subs and without their prolific goalscorer, Kira?
Go out, enjoy it and pass the ball were the instructions from the sidelines. The girls started with a 2-2-1 formation. The opening half was tense. Crosspool dominated with some great passing and movement but Millmoor looked dangerous on the break.
In the early exchanges Charlotte and Jessica showed how strong their defensive partnership has become. Tackle after tackle came in and they showed real maturity with clearances aimed at their forward players rather than just hoofing it up the pitch.
Evie was the the lone striker, always running into space and linking well with the industrious midfielders, Jeannie and Lydia.
2 well worked corners from Jeannie forced some early saves from the Millmoor keeper and Lydia and Evie went close with some long range shots.
Sophie in goal showed her value when she came well of her line to thwart 2 Millmoor breaks.
Half time 0-0
In the second half, being a player down showed for a few minutes with Crosspool looking tired. Sophie again protected the goal well with some great saves and an understanding of when to come off her line. Evie and Lydia linked up well as Crosspool broke and Lydia slotted a great through ball between two defenders and Evie scored low into the bottom left corner. The next 5 minutes were tense but the girls demonstrated a great understanding of the game by passing out of defence well and running into the corners to relieve the pressure. Jeannie broke with a forceful run and she shot low and hard across the keeper, the keeper saved but Evie followed up for her 2nd goal of the game with a great finish from the rebound. 2-0 Crosspool. With 6 minutes left Lydia was rewarded for her efforts with a great solo goal, running through tackles and finishing with power and accuracy to make it 3-0.
Jessica and Charlotte were like the great Milan partnership of Baresi and Costacurta in defence, their positioning and reading of the game were a joy to watch. Jeannie and Lydia had a 2nd half of total domination in midfield (Lampard and Gerrard could have learnt from their display). Evie was Rooney like up front, running tirelessly in the lone striker role.
This was the best performance of the season and the girls now look back on track. If they continue to play like this and keep listening to James and Mark at training then the league and cup double is possible and after last season that would be such a great achievement.