U11 Girls v Nottingham Girls
These two teams met early in the season that resulted in a resounding win for the Nottingham girls.
From the start of the first third, Nottingham attacked from the off, however today they were to meet Keavy Smith and Lucy Donnelly in fine form. Both girls dealt admirably with everything that was thrown at them., including a flurry of corners. Nottinngham were reduced to long shots and found Olivia Fuller at her best, first turning a shot around the post and later palming a goalbound effort over the bar. Leeds were beginning to grow in confidence and Niamh Mallon and Amy Thompson linked up several times producing quick paced counter attacks. The breakthrough finally came and unfortunately it came the way of Nottingham as a corner was flicked on and the ball blasted into the roof of the net giving Olivia no chance at the far post. Rather than let heads drop the Leeds girls rallied and produced the best football of the year so far. First Beth Oates had a shot tipped over , and then Niamh fired a shot narrowly wide. Amy Thompson pounced on a mis-kicked goal kick and was unlucky with her shot. Just before the end of the first third Niamh passed inside to Amy who turned, shot and brought Leeds level with a shot into the bottom left.
Into the second half and Leeds kept up the pressure. Maria Fennell went on a mazy run and put Jessica Barker free, a defender appeared to get rather more of Jessica than the ball, but a penalty appeal from behind the goal was waved away! Nottingham then broke upfield and Olivia pulled off a fine save but was helpless and blameless with the rebound. Leeds kept battling and again had the lions share of chances.Lauren Jones went on several runs and had a low shot saved. Nottingham kept up the pressure with Keavy heading a long shot to safety and repeating the feat from the resultant corner. Maria was tracking back and put in some good tackles. Just before the end of the second half Jessica rounded the goal keeper only to see her shot from an acute angle bounce back into play off the post.
Jessica started the third period in the way she finished the second, again coming close with a shot on goal. Leeds forced a couple of corners and a shot went just wide. Nottingham's sporadic attacks were being snuffed out as Lucy and Keavy were proving a solid pairing at the back. Nottingham were to provide only one chance of note in the last 10 minutes and Amy was denied a second by good goalkeeping. With time running out Leeds failed to get what would have been a deserved equaliser and the match ended 1-2.
Although ending with a defeat, many positives can be taken from this match. The girls demonstrated how far they have come since the heavy defeat in October . They showed great teamwork and spirit and are a credit to everyone involved.