Saturday was an afternoon kick off at Quicksand Lane against Leamington Lions.
Starlands were without Martha & Hafsa - but welcomed new recruit Rosie to the fold.
Georgia had already played 80 minutes of Hockey - and a herculean effort was expected to keep going for a further 60 minutes of football.
Hannah was nursing an achilles injury and Samantha cancelled a pantomine show to ensure the team were the full 7!...Oh yes she did!
Leamington Lions, like many others were placed above Starlands - and from first appearance once again looked a more physical team.
However, STARLANDS were back to their spirited best - and EVERY girl gave 100% effort throughout the match. This did not go unnoticed by all spectators and coaches - and the girls can be rightly proud of their performance.
The first LIONS goal was a bit of a scramble - Starlands were defending admirably - blocking, tackling,closing down and just getting in the way! but something had to give eventually.
1-0 down, the girls continued to fight, and fight they did. LIONS were continually pushing and pulling right on the edge of the law...but Starland's girls are giving as good as they get these days - and quite rightly stood up for themselves! ...well done!
LIONS had a couple of corners - and scored from both. They had a striker No.10 Rhianna signed from Warwick Angels who could control and dispatch the ball into the top corner at will!
Starlands now 3-0 down - were an irritant to LIONS. They never let them play their attractive football. It was like Stoke against Barcelona!
A shot in the area was charged down by Captain Lauris and the rebound shot was well saved by Holly. It's becoming boring now...but once again Holly was outstanding in goal - plucking the ball out of the sky at crosses and getting down to the low shots. She certainly gets plenty of practice on match days!
The fourth goal - came about after Starlands were slightly slow to close down the No.10 Rhianna at a corner..and once again she scored!
Half time came - and Starlands were playing out of their skin. Rosie was showing some lovely touches, looking up and looking to find a pass. There looked to be a good combination between Georgia and Rosie at times with Hannah and Samantha continually tracking up and down in attack and defence.
Loris , Sinead and Holly the last line of defence - were truly back to their best. Solid in the tackle and prepared to get stuck in.
LIONS - kindly put their No.10 in goal for the start of the second half. This levelled things up quite some way.Starlands were looking like they could make a game of it. LIONS must have been worried, because Rhianna came out of goal after 10 minutes. For a period LIONS had 8 players!...as though things weren't hard enough! ...They scored - but due to 'eagle eyed Tracy' and her ability to get the Referees attention.."Oi Ref they've got 8 players!" .The goal was disallowed!
But,LIONS went on to score 2 more goals without any appeals!
One followed a long kick and three missed tackles on the edge of the box. Probably the only tackles missed all day.The last goal was a wide ball fed into the box and dispatched with lethal ution - excellent effort!
It remained 6-0 to the final whistle.
Starlands had a couple of long range efforts from Sam - and Rosie,Georgia and Hannah were unlucky not to get the rub of the green with the ball breaking the other way.
The LIONS No.3 Lauren was outstanding at the back - and made more than one timely interception to save The Lions keeper having to make a save.
Well done Starlands! and The Lions coach echoed that!...If you keep playing like that - Warwick Angels should be afraid next week.
A BIG PLEA to Holly to try her best to make next weeks game. WE NEED YOU!
Girl of The Game - was awarded to Hannah & Samantha for their effort. But in truth, ALL the girls were outstanding. Wel done to Rosie on her debut - signs of a promising player.
