Solihull Borough Girls v Starlands 8 – 0 (Loss)
First game back after the Christmas break and Starlands faced a hard task against the League Leaders at Hampton FC.
All the girls arrived on time – and Starlands had a full team…a good start!
The girls were keen to play – having had a number of games cancelled due to weather and frozen pitches.
Solihull Borough were a big physical team – with power and skill .They had been playing together for 3 years and were riding high at the top of The League with an awesome record.
Up front, they had a No.9 striker called Claudia – who was to prove to be the catalyst for everything Solihull did – and there was no doubting the gulf in class and experience.
However, something which the Starlands girls have is drive , effort and determination and a never say die spirit!
The writing was on the wall from the kick off. Starlands took the kick off and formed up deep defensively, Solihull were looking to press – and robbed Starlands after 3 passes and drove through the heart of the defence after an intial good save from Holly Solihull were the quicker to react and scored from the rebound! 1-0 and seconds played…
Starlands did not let their heads drop and restarted. But, yet again Solihull were back at them.
The pattern of the game was pressure from Solihull, lovely one touch passes and flicks. Their players seemed to know instinctively where their support was coming from. The girls were running onto the ball and striking long range efforts.
Holly was equal to them – and was single handedly keeping Starlands in the game. She was diving high and low – her handling was immense and she plucked the ball out of the sky with confidence never seen before!
It was soon 2-0 – a deflected shot was going across the goal and wide, but the Solihull striker stuck out a boot and deflected the ball – wrong footing Holly.
Solihull, seemed to be able to play blindfolded. Claudia was laying the ball off and playing 1-2’s with her fellow players. It was one such move which resulted in her playing it to Charlotte to strike a great goal in the top corner. 3- 0.
Starlands were managing to string some passes together – and Laurice , Sam and Hannah were unlucky not to go through with a well worked move.
Starlands had settled into the game – and Georgia was marshalling the defence of Loris and Sinead to frustrate Solihull. But, even their efforts could not stop a great Fourth goal from the Solihull No.9.
Starlands were 4 – 0 down at half time , and had done excellently to prevent Solihull from running riot.
2nd half Starlands had the wind behind them – and were still full of running and effort. They refused to sit back and defend even though it was like the Alamo on occasions.
Starlands were resilient – and Solihull could not break Starlands down. The ball was flying past the post, hitting the bar, hitting defenders and Holly was making some outstanding saves. She was getting down to the ball and coming off her line to close players down. Without a doubt her best game to date.
Hafsa was coming on a providing some relief up front. Hannah and Samantha were trying to break free and Martha was starting to show some lovely individual runs down the wings.
Georgia was having a fantastic game – and somehow managed to get forward to try and support. It was amazing that the girls were trying to press up the pitch – and even had a couple of efforts on goal. Had it not been for a few interceptions or unlucky bounces of the ball – Starlands may have had a few more chances to test the Solihull keeper.
Solihull eventually made it 5 – 0 with another goal of the season from Claudia, then 6-0 with a fortunate rebound. Then 7-0 with another excellent shot from the edge of the box and finally 8- 0 with The big Solihull defender pushing forward and burying a long range effort just over the unlucky Holly’s grasp.
No report could really do Solihull’s attacking efforts justice. Likewise, no amount of words could describe the back to the wall effort displayed by Starlands. Every girl played their part in a really enjoyable match – and for a first game back after 3 weeks off – it was very encouraging.
Hopefully Holly’s hands won’t be stinging too much – for her to pick up the richly deserved girl of the game. Closely followed by Georgia for her efforts.
Next weeks game is against Erdington at home. A team who we should run a lot closer – but who will be out for revenge after we secured our first win against them at their ground!
Solihull Supporters commented on the impressive effort of the Starlands girls and the great supporters! So WELL DONE EVERYONE! J
