West Ham United 1-2 Writtle Minors
Sunday 21st March 2010,
Burnham Ramblers FC,
Kick-Off 10:30am,
Essex Under 14s Girls Cup Final supported by Chelmsford Radio and Tesco.
By Robert Craven
Writtle Minors launched an excellent second-half comeback to defeat West Ham United by two goals to one in the first-ever Essex Under 14s Girls Cup Final supported by Chelmsford Radio and Tesco, leaving manager Darren Kingdon to hail his team’s “big achievement” after the match.
Sophie McLean gave West Ham a deserved lead after just twelve minutes of the opening period, but a stunning strike from Charlotte Ellis levelled matters within 45 seconds of the restart and Lauren Beard’s own goal 19 minutes later completed a stirring response. “I thought the final was a fantastic advert for female football in the County and we need to work on this now to ensure the game continues to develop in the future,” assessed Kingdon. “It was certainly a big achievement for our club against a tough, strong side. We knew they’d be hard to beat coming into it, and that’s how it turned out.”
West Ham were the dominant force during the first 35 minutes, and Chelsea Martin was presented with a good chance to open the scoring in the 7th minute but her strong shot was palmed out by Bethany Wood. Terri Townson then half-volleyed a Georgia Richards corner into the side-netting before the Hammers went ahead. A flowing move had already been terminated by a well-timed Faith Candice tackle but, from the resultant corner, McLean slammed a shot goalwards and Wood could only push the ball into the net.
Writtle struggled to break down a resilient West Ham defence whilst United themselves were having trouble springing the offside trap, although they were thwarted by Wood as she tipped Townson’s long-range effort around the post. The half closed with Eliz Ibrahim chipping over, giving Kingdon the chance to rouse his charges. “We were a goal down at half-time but stuck to our game plan,” he added. “We were a bit worried because West Ham defend well right across the pitch, but we also knew we’d create chances.”
Even the coach couldn’t have envisaged the equaliser arriving as quickly as it did. Writtle broke on the right through Georgia Sleep, who squared the ball to Ellis on the left-hand edge of the area. From there the midfielder smashed past ‘keeper Georgie Hodges and into the top right-hand corner. “Charlotte hasn’t been involved much recently, but it was a cracking goal and hopefully now she will come back in,” Kingdon said.
The leveller gave Writtle renewed hope, and Sleep lofted a Kaylee Dodd corner onto the top of the net before the same source created the winner in the 55th minute. The energetic winger sent a long throw in from the right flank which Sleep flicked over Hodges and into the six-yard box. With bodies scrambling to get onto the ball defender Beard could only divert into her own goal for what proved to be the winner.
Writtle threatened a third when Sophie Wander raced through one-on-one with Hodges, but the custodian stood up well to avert the danger. As the final whistle approached, West Ham had a chance to earn a further 20 minutes, only for Ibrahim to flash a shot across the face of goal having dribbled her way into a good position.
The result, and subsequent standing as the County’s representatives in the regional and potentially national Tesco Under 14s Girls Cup, was welcomed by Kingdon: “We had difficulties with selection today – Kaylee turned her ankle running on Saturday so she wasn’t fully fit and our midfield playmaker was also missing. At times I thought we missed her as she would’ve found passes that you wouldn’t think were on.”
“Despite that, the nice thing for me is I saw at half-time that the team had belief, and that is what you need. During the last ten minutes we felt a little tired, but it was a whole team effort and we worked hard for the result. Now we’ll be up against the best of Southern England which will be a good learning curve for us. We’ll be pushed as we were today.”
West Ham United Girls: Georgie Hodges, Georgia Richards, Courtney Peverill, Danielle Sillitoe, Lauren Beard, Ciara Bland, Sophie McLean, Terri Townson, Ella Hill, Eliz Ibrahim, Chelsea Martin. Substitutes (repeated): Mollie Rose, Jamie Williams, Lauren Smith.
Writtle Minors Girls: Bethany Wood, Brogan Lambert, Lauren Baker, Georgia Sleep, Faith Candice, Becky Wagstaff, Mollie Archard, Kaylee Dodd, Charlotte Ellis, Elle Georgiou, Sophie Wander. Substitutes (repeated): Ciara Meeking, Dani Ellis.
Referee: Robert Keable (Chelmsford).
Assistant Referee: Daniel D’Urso (Billericay) and James Bellingham (Grays).
Fourth Official: Daniel McLaughlin (Harwich).
Attendance: 109
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