Return of the Magnificent Seven.....and three friends.....and their parents......and a cute dog.....not forgetting to mention the one who stood down when we had ten confirmed!
Strangely, you can learn a lot from a defeat. In our last outing we played a strong team, dominated possession and got caught on the break for 2 goals. Today we learnt to be more defensively minded, kept a clean sheet, looked dangerous on the break, and when we got our noses in front, controlled the game.
We always knew that today was going to be tough. Bradley Stoke were the league's top scorers and were on an unbeaten 8 match run. Great credit must go to James Eveleigh, the Bradley Stoke manager, for finding a playable pitch, in spite of the recent weather.
We opted to start Betty in goal, and drop Lulu back into defence with Amelia. Ella and Mara started on the flanks, with Sim and captain Lily in the middle. The setup seemed to work as the defenders mopped up everything and allowed us to break quickly on either side of the pitch. From one such break we got a series of corners. Lulu tried repeatedly to put the ball into the danger zone, only for it to be cleared out by a defender for another corner. A change of tactic saw a shorter ball to Lily on the edge of the box played back to Lulu who whipped the ball in from a better angle, and the confusion in the box enabled Sim to prod home from close range.
A tactical change brought Bella on for Lily, and Lulu moved to sit in front of the back 2 and the half played out with Stoke pressing and the Foxes hitting repeatedly on the break. 1-0 at half time.
With Ruby on for Mara at the start of the second half, the Foxes were even more aware of their defensive responsibilities, at one time even going 4-2! With great recycling from Betty, we were still able to tear into Stoke on the counter attack, hitting the post once before Sim finally got her reward for endless running with a well taken second goal.
Bea replaced Ruby for the next quarter as the Foxes came under pressure for the first time in the game, with Amelia making some great covering tackles. A final reversion to the starting lineup allowed the Foxes to see out the game.
A fantastic result against a good passing side, with a great defensive display!
Girl of the Game: Ella
Captain of the Week: Lily
Sunday 2 December 2012
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