Haslingden u16 3 v 2 Euxton Girls North

Heavy rain to start the day didn't make you want to stand out and watch football, luckily the weather was clear by the time we kicked off. Euxton only had 11 players to choose from so we matched them girl for girl, prompting an early tactical switch.
Haslingden show some great composure on the ball and were the stronger team in midfield with some great passing play leaving Euxton to chase the ball over the pitch. Most of our attacks came down the left hand side where Louise was splitting the defence with some great passes for Emily or Alannah to run on to. Unfortunately the Euxton defence kept getting back to cover and get the ball clear. With Ashy marshalling the home defence we looked to be in a comfortable position. Amelia and Daisy looked strong in both fullback positions, being backed up by Hannah when needed. Libbie was cutting out a lot of the opposition passes as well pushing forward when she could but was unable to play much longer than 25 mins due to injury, Amani came on to replace her. Unfortunately a rare shot from the visitors found its way past Rebekah as she was unable to hold onto the long range effort. Despite all the attacking intent from Haslingden we were still unable to find a way through with Alannah going high, wide and at the keeper. Hannah came out 2nd best in a challenge in midfield and had to come off for treatment on her ankle. Euxton managed to get another shortly before half time to take a 2.0 lead.
There wasn't much to say at half time as the girls were doing everything they could and doing it well. Elsie came on to give Daisy a break and Louise went in goal for Rebekah. A few minutes into the second half and it was just a continuation of the first, so a slight positional change was needed. Tanya wasn't getting much of the ball on the right so she went through the middle with Alannah coming over to the right. Three minutes was all it took for Haslingden to pull a goal back. Alannah, still wanting to be in the middle, passed the ball through to Rebekah who quickly played Tanya in. She held off a challenge to put the ball past the oncoming 'keeper. Elsie, having her 1st game for a few weeks, was getting stronger as the game went on, playing in both fullback postitions. Whilst Tanya was off the pitch getting treatment, Naomi broke up an Euxton attack and Amani picked up the loose ball and fed the ball out wide to Alannah who broke through the defence and played the ball to Rebekah who got on the scoresheet with a fine strike. 2.2 and all to play for. Chelsey and Naomi swapped for each other a couple of times and both broke up play well. Haslingden continued to push for the winner and found it. The ball was played to Alannah on the right, and again, she beat her fullback and ran in on goal. Her shot was saved by the keeper but Tanya was on hand to tap in.

Tanya x 2
Rebekah x 1
Player of the match - Amani
Linemsan of the week - John