Today, Starlands travelled to Brinklow and after a last minute venue changed - found themselves playing at The Prison Service College.
The pitch was a little narrower than usual, but the playing service and pitch were immaculate.
Starlands last game was against Brinklow in The Cup - and having managed to get a win, it was obvious Brinklow would be out for revenge.
The game finally got under way, and Starlands unusually found themselves camped down in the Brinklow box.
However, because fo the narrow pitch and the size of the Brinklow players there was no way through their defence. In fact whenever Brinklow broke away, there was far more room for them to move the ball around. However, Chloe, Sinead and Laurice cut out any threat.
The first real effort was am Ellie shot edge from the edge of the box - which resulted in a great save!
Starlands then had another Corner and from the edge of box the shot through the crowd - was blocked
Brinklow had a breakaway - the final ball caught their striker off side , regardless Holly was still alert and came off her line and made a good save.
There followed a break by amber, a the goalkeeper made another good save - the rebound however found our new star Grace and she tucked it away in the far corner from an acute angle 1-0!!!...There was a sense of relief.
Another through break found Amber bearing down on goal, but under pressure she hit her shot high and it was easily saved. Well done to the Brinklow defender.
More pressure from Starlands - and some delightful corners by Grace could not find a Starlands player in enough space.
Grace played a delightful cross , and Amber was about to pull the trigger when Kiera ran into box and first time shot ! ....the goalkeeper again Saved.
Then another bullet shot by Ellie went wide....It was starting to look like Brinklow could ride the storm.
Another corner - and both Sam & Rosie shot with a great save by goalkeeper!
Yet another corner by Grace , and on the edge of the box Hannah shot, the ball was going in the top corner but was saved again!
This was followed by another shot by Ellie which went agonisingly wide :(
2nd half......
Corner taken - and Hafsah lurking on the edge of the box , hit a speculative long range effort - saved , but it just slipped thru and over the line .... 2-0 Phew!
Unlucky Brinklow keeper, but a relief to Simon & Ben and the fans of Starlands.
Brinklow had a corner, Holly claimed the ball well and a big kick released Amber once again...The defender pushed her onto her left side and she shot with her right foot and the ball went just wide.
Another Brinklow break was played off side - through good defending by the commanding Chloe,Sinead and Laurice - albeit Laurice was edging further forward as the game progressed - using her Delap throws to good effect.
However, it was a throw in by Sam , that broke to Alex - her shot was blocked , and then Hafsah shot was saved!
Brinklow had an injury and from the throw in - Hafsah cut in and toe poked the ball high and into the top corner...great goal.
Then a great break - from back to front , Samantha intercepted a Brinklow pass and played it to Ellie who flicked it on to Hafsah and then onto Amber- who shot and found yet another of her efforts saved, but Hafsah finished off a great performance and buried the ball in the back of the net. Her Hatrick! and the first hatrick in the history of Starlands Girls U.13's.
There were some great performances today - the defence kept their concentration and made some great tackles to break up Brinklow attacks.
Holly was Captain for the day and led the team professionally. Ruby had some great runs forward and showed some terrific sporting behaviour to the opposition, Rosie distributed the ball in midfield, Alex supported Grace down the flanks and played her part in defence, Amber could have had a hatrick herself....Hafsah did, but Girl of The Game goes again to GRACE for her brilliant performance and continued improvement. Well done everyone! Keep it up.
