Broughton Ravers U12 girls v Greenbank, January 7th, 2012

Saturday, 7th January 2012

Team: Macey, Hollie, Louise, Alex, Leah, Lauren, Misha, Chloe and Jodie.

Result: 2-1 (AET)

Scorers: Macey, Jodie

Player of the match: Misha, for a determined, tough tackling performance.

Another exciting cup match! And this time we got the ‘right’ result…

From the first whistle it was clear that this was not going to be an easy match for the Ravers.

The Greenbank girls were tough. They tackled hard and gave the Ravers very little time on the ball. But the girls gradually got their passing game going and were unlucky to go behind when the home side scored in the ninth minute.

In the past, conceding against the run of play might have rattled the Ravers. But today they didn’t let a bit of bad luck worry them and were unlucky not to equalise before half time.

The second half was no easier than the first and I soon realised that the ref wasn’t going to call a foul unless one of the girls got her head kicked off!

A year ago the Ravers wouldn’t have liked this sort of physical battle but they are made of sterner stuff these days. They fought back hard and thoroughly deserved to bring the scores level when Macey dribbled the ball through a packed home defence and tapped the ball into the net.

With extra time looming the home team had a great chance to win the game but Louise denied them with a very brave save at the feet of the Greenbank attacker.

The whistle went. Extra time again…

With two minutes played, Jodie smashed an unstoppable shot into the Greenbank goal from 20 yards!

2-1 to the Ravers.

The home team couldn’t get back into the game in the few minutes that were left and I breathed a sigh of relief when the final whistle blew. No penalty shoot out!!!

Highlights of the game were some very determined performances from individuals, some really good passing under pressure from the team as a whole, Louise’s save and her calm distribution of the ball… and Rachel telling the home ref off….