BGL u12 Bradley Stoke 3 v 3 Westbury Park Foxes

Foxes Fightback Stuns Stoke!

Never has a draw seemed more like a victory as the Foxes fought back from 3 nil down to earn a point.

Without training yesterday, and with several players under the weather, the Foxes headed for Bradley Stoke for a delayed kickoff.

After a 'Football Remembers' joint photo, the teams lined up with the Foxes kicking off into the wind.

Football Remembers

Hoping to take the tremendous form of last week into the game, the coaches were confident that the girls would turn on the style again.

Sadly it all went wrong in the first ten minutes, as the slow starting Foxes allowed Stoke to run at will down both flanks. From an early goal kick the hosts were in front as a miss kick  found the Stoke striker on the edge of the box, who made no mistake from close range. Worse was to follow as a defensive clearance was sent looping back over the stranded Foxes keeper to send the home crowd wild. 2-0 down and the Foxes finally started to play, dominating territory and forcing 2 point blank saves from the home keeper. A tactical change replacing Izzy with Lily saw the Foxes start to enjoy more possession and territorial advantage, and it felt like it wouldn't be long before the reward came.

As the first half finished the Foxes went into the break still confident that they would get some reward for all the chances they were creating.

With the wind behind them the Foxes started the second half brightly, but disaster struck as Stoke broke away and the away defence failed to clear. 3-0 and it looked all over……

Another change as Ella, the second ill Fox, was replaced by Molly. What followed was the greatest determination to succeed that we have witnessed from the girls. Molly started to play simple passes that had been lacking and suddenly the home team looked vulnerable as the Foxes moved the ball more effectively. Several moves were lacking only an accurate finish, before Mara outpaced her marker to get into the box and beat the keeper at the near post.

3-1 and a faint glimmer of hope as the Foxes poured forward, forcing a number of corners, before, with time running out Daisy forced home from close range! 3-2 game on!

The hosts continued to break, but Betty was quick off the line to block the strikers and thwart further danger.

Despite the multiple interruptions to the flow of the game as the home side made sub after sub, the referee indicated that there was still 5 minutes to go. The rejuvenated Foxes piled forward, with Mara, Daisy Sim and Lily playing almost as a front 4 with Rhiannon, Lulu and Molly recycling the ball and getting it forward as quickly as possible. Daisy had a couple of strikes, one saved and one over the bar. The bench thought the chance had gone, but as the game entered the final minute, Mara broke down the left and fed through to Sim who smashed it from the edge of the box. The keeper could only palm the ball into the net. 3-3 and the team and supporters went wild!

Just time to kick off before the ref blew the final whistle. Another 5 minutes and who knows what might have happened.

When the dust has settled, whilst it was a great escape, on another day, had all our chances gone in, we could have taken more from the game. We need to play with the intensity of the final 15 minutes from the first whistle if we are to avoid this again……but what great spirit!!

Captain of the week: Daisy

Girl of the Game: Molly

BGLu12 Westbury Park Foxes 8 v 0 AEK Boco Blue

Foxes hit top gear with emphatic victory!

A foggy start to the day at BAWA saw the Foxes take on old foes in Boco Blue.

Whilst they have had mixed results this season, we know from previous encounters that they would pose a threat and we would have to be on top of our game to ensure victory.

What followed was one of the best all round performances we have seen from the team. From Betty 'Neuer' Platt in goal to Sim 'Mario' Kaur at the front there were outstanding performances from all the girls, on a day when everything clicked.

Goals came from multiple sources, with Ella B, Mara, and Lily all getting a goal, Sim a brace as did Daisy, who also rattled the woodwork on a couple of occasions.

Some excellent wing play was mirrored by tough combative midfield play from Lulu and Izzy.
Defensively there was some great desire to track back and outrun the opposition strikers, and to get tackles in.

Yet again there was great support from the bench, with Molly playing a delightful through ball to set up a goal, Lily getting a goal and Ella W making a goal saving challenge to preserve the clean sheet.

Sim and Daisy again looked a threat whenever the ball reached the opposition box, and Betty restricted the opposition to speculative long-range strikes with imperious command of the area.

So, on to another tough game next week against familiar foe. Lets hope we can take this sort of form with us!

Captain of the Week: Mara

Girl of the Game: Betty

BGL u12 Westbury Park Foxes 6 v 0 Longwell Green Whites

Foxes return to winning ways!

 The Foxes arrived determined to put right the errors of last week as they welcomed the Whites to BAWA.
With a focus on retaining the ball and playing simple passes the Foxes got the game underway, opting to try a 3 man defence with Ella W coming into the line up.
The game pattern was soon established, with the Whites happy to defend in numbers and look to get a chance on the break.
The game ebbed and flowed as the Foxes dominated territorially, whilst Longwell Green had occasional breaks that rarely tested Betty in the home goal.
With the Foxes execution the game plan the goals started to flow, with a first half hat trick for Sim and two goals for Daisy putting the Foxes in a commanding 5-0 half time lead.

With the points in the bag the Foxes use the second half to practice the passing and moving that need to be developed. With Sim already departed to London, Lily led the line, with the increasingly impressive Izzy coming on to win the ball in midfield, whilst Molly took over in defence.

Within minutes of the restart Daisy completed her hat trick, and, whilst still enjoying the bulk of possession, the Foxes were unable to extend their tally. With Betty invoking the '5 goal rule' and replacing Mara on the left, Lulu took over in goal and held on for the first clean sheet of the year.

So a good response from the girls, and a chance to practice under match conditions as we head towards some more tough matches!

Captain of the Week : Ella B

Girl of the Game: Rhiannon

Year 9 BSYL - 15/11. Stoke Lane 1 - 8 Foxes

The Foxes maintained their lead at the top of the League with a convincing win away at Stoke Lane.  

From the kick off the Foxes looked threatening, keeping possession well and picking the right time for the final pass. A number of half chances were created before Sam finished off a great move. The lead was extended when Joe  scored his first goal for the club. Stoke Lane always carried a threat through their centre forward who, after drawing a great one-handed save by Archie, seized on a mistake by the Foxes to send an unstoppable shot into the top-left hand corner.  

At 2-1 the Foxes could have wobbled but Joe quickly put the game out of reach, twice rounding the keeper and keeping his composure to complete his hatrick. 4-1 at half time.

Stoke Lane had the advantage of the slight slope in the second half but could get back into the game as the Foxes back four, supported well by the midfield, dealt with any threat. With 20 minutes to go Danny wriggled into the Stoke Lane box and fired in his first of the day. His second followed after a great passing move which ended with Sam laying off the final ball, his third after great work by Dom and his fourth from a shot from the edge of the box.

Great performances throughout the side but Alec was judged the Foxes' man of the match for yet another great performance at the back.    

 

Year 9 BSYL. 08/11. Rockleaze 4 - 4 Foxes

Firstly it was hard to believe that the game was going ahead at all. The conditions were atrocious, with standing water and, early on, something approaching hail. We also lost Joe to illness before the kick off and, during the game, Ollie K to injury. Throughout the 70 mins, however, all of the boys were terrific.

At one point, following a very good early goal from the impressive Dom, we found ourselves 3-1 down to a combination of good finishing, a scrappy goal and a player who dominated centre midfield due to his size. After a switch which saw our giant, Tom, move in to a 'man marking' role on their giant, we started to take control of the game and Danny and Sam scored to level the score. Even so, Owen had to make a fantastic one handed save and we did concede one more to finish the first half 4-3 down.

The second half was pretty much all one-way traffic with Dom equalising, Ollie S hitting the post, Jack being denied what looked like a certain penalty and several half chances missed or cleared off the line. But the winner would not come.

There were notable performances everywhere but special mention to Jacob and Harry who stepped in at full back when Harri and Tom had to change positions and played really well. Harri looked perhaps the happiest of all those playing due to opportunity the game gave him to execute a series of perfectly timed and very muddy sliding tackles....

So, while we dropped points it could have been much worse.

BGL u12 Portishead Town 3 v 2 Westbury Park Foxes

18 Month Unbeaten run ends!

Despite the torrential rain over the weekend, the Portishead pitches had dried out enough to get todays game on.

Portishead have pushed the Foxes hard over the last 2 seasons, and were worthy runners up last year, beating everyone else in the league, so we knew that we were in for a tough fixture.

With a strong Foxes line up, hopes were high after last weeks impressive performance, but quality opposition, and the notoriously small pitch were to be the Foxes undoing.

A minutes silence was observed before the game got underway.

Starting strongly the Foxes were quirky into the attack, forcing a string of early corners, but it was clear that Portishead's passing game, and quick strong centre forward would put the Foxes under pressure, especially on the break.

Betty got a taste of this early on as the offside was sprung and Betty found herself one on one with the Portishead striker, but was quick to leave the box to make the interception.

The home team found more success playing early diagonal balls, whilst the Foxes found the pitch constraints hampering the wide play and through balls to be over hit.

The game swung from end to end, before the Foxes were caught in possession and a through ball this time found the striker with time to fire into the top corner.

It's a long time since the Foxes have been behind in a game, and were glad to get to half time, as composure and shape were lost as the girls tried to deal with going behind.

The second half started brightly, as the Foxes went on the offensive, again taking play to the opposition, but soon disaster struck as, from a Foxes corner Portishead broke and beat 2 defenders to rifle home a second.

The Foxes roared back though and soon halved the deficit with Sim on hand to poach a goal when Portishead failed to clear.
Just was it looked like we would get right back, again a quick break undid the good work, and Portishead restored the 2 goal cushion. Straight from the kick off the Foxes went right though the home team and Sim doubled her tally.

Again the Foxes poured forwards in search of the equaliser, with Portishead tiring, but eventually we ran out of time as the ref blew the final whistle.

Sometimes you can learn more in a defeat than in a win, and that was the case today. Our overall passing, ball retention and defending as a unit can all be worked on, but the character shown by all the girls cannot be faulted, and will stand us in good stead going forwards.

Captain of the week: Lulu

Girl of the Game: Lulu

BGL u12 Westbury Park Foxes 2 v 1 Wotton Rovers

Foxes remain unbeaten in top of the table clash!

Today saw the league's last two undefeated teams go head to head. Wotton are a well coached, talented team with plenty of pace, who have made the early running this season. The Foxes knew that the game today would require a step up in performance if the unbeaten run was to be extended.

With Mara still on a plane returning from Germany, the Foxes were forced to alter the line up, with Daisy moving to cover left midfield, and Lily 'Ronaldo' Kington Miller returning to the starting line up.
Izzy captained the side, initially from the bench, as Wotton got the game underway!

Wotton started brightly and attacked the Foxes from the off, using pace to spring the offside trap, requiring some sharp defending, as Betty was forced into three early saves.

Safe Hands!

The Foxes were soon in their stride, though, moving the ball well across the park, and forcing Wotton onto the back foot. The final ball was always hampered by the commanding presence of 'Big Amy' in the opposition's defence!

An injury to Lily meant that Izzy was called into the action, and the extra midfielder soon settled the home team as she harried the opposition and held up play effectively, reducing the counter attacking threat.

The action was end to end, but the breakthrough eventually came as Ella put in a blistering run down the right and, despite the attention of three defenders, managed to square the ball perfectly for Sim to lash home.

After sustaining the inevitable pressure the Foxes were unlucky not to go further ahead as a delightful cross field pass from Daisy saw Sim again find the net, but was adjudged to be marginally offside.
At the other end Amelia marshalled the defence well, but could do little as Amy unleashed a pile-driver from 30 yards that Betty pushed round the post!

Battling for posession!

The second half saw a reorganised Wotton stretch the Foxes as they went in search of an equaliser, exploiting the space down the Foxes left, drawing a further couple of saves from the home 'keeper.

Over the Top!

Now it was the Foxes sitting deeper and counter attacking, with Ella and Molly combining well on the right, and Daisy probing the left. The second goal, though, came down the middle, as Izzy slotted the perfect through ball to beat the offside and set Sim off on a blistering run, and unbelievable finish as she  struck with the outside of her boot to wrong foot the goalie, reminiscent of Oscar's finish for Chelsea yesterday!

The Foxes had the ball in the net again soon after, but again it was ruled out for a marginal off side.
.
Wotton then threw everything at the Foxes, and clawed a goal back when some lax play enabled them to rob the defence and, play an easy ball to the unmarked forward to slot home.

Further pressure was soaked up as the Foxes played out the final 5 minutes, to huge cheers at the final whistle!

So a fantastic squad performance, which will need to be maintained as we head to new league leaders Portishead next week!

Captain of the week : Izzy
Girl of the game: Ella