Under 12 Girls | Coton FC

6 days ago

Group stage of the cup for Coton U16 Girls this morning. Playing at Comberton on the 3G for the second week running, against Longstanton from the league below. We’d played once before in a summer tournament but this would be our first meeting at 11v11, and it turned out to be a game with a difference!…

Both teams were up for this from the off. We were quick to find our rhythm today; Shannon orchestrating the midfield, with Tes and Seyma behind her and Alice, Grace and Lexie ahead. Longstanton were well organised and all their players worked very hard to break up our flow. We quickly identified a super speedy and skilful winger, as their main threat and who required close attention, and our back four of Bam, Annie, AJ and Lia managed the threat well, helped out by Cha whenever the ball made it through. An unfortunate injury to AJ meant Elliyah was off the bench and into the action early. Quickly followed by Lottie and Ilazki to take over in the midfield. With all our girls performing well, and the passing combinations working, the gulf between the two teams became clearer and clearer. By the end of the first half we’d scored 10 goals to no reply, with an Alice hattrick, a Grace brace, a thundering header from Seyma after Lexie had whipped in a pinpoint corner, and four from Shannon including a quality chipped set and volley following nice work by Ilazki. The half time whistle blew but it was hard to spot a player on either team who seemed to be enjoying the game.

The game was already won so both coaching teams agreed to try to make things more even by switching things up a bit. Longstanton brought on all of their subs to outnumber us and mean we had far less time and space on the ball. Also we switched the Longstanton goal to the 9v9 size which worked really well to even things up. Longstanton drew first blood with a well taken finish by their speedy winger as she escaped her marker and fired a rocket that a retreating Cha got a touch on but not by enough to keep it out. Seyma worked hard on the right wing to try to get one back, scoring probably 6 or 7 times, but unfortunately only in the full-size goals behind our new target! Lexie remained determined though and managed to wriggle free of the Longstanton defence and neatly slot in. We continued to work the ball around to create chances but Longstanton were defending really well now, and creating chances of their own. It took a long range effort from Tes to finally beat their keeper again, but this half had been much more closely contested and, although a bit unusual, defintely made for a more entertaining game overall. Both teams left the field, this time with smiles all round!

Big thanks to Longstanton for making the trip over and playing us. We know you were apprehensive about this game beforehand, but also we know you’ll be super proud of all your players today - they were great! Also a massive well done to our girls - it can be easy to slip into bad habits when playing in these sort of games, but that didn’t happen once and you played some brilliant stuff, yet again! 👍⚽️ ... See MoreSee Less

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