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4 weeks ago

Coton U14 Girls made the return visit to Cambourne having beaten them comfortably at home in October. Despite this, Coton were taking nothing for granted having recently been humbled away at Chesterton and having noted a big uptick in Cambourne's recent results. And, like the game at Chesterton, this match was to be played on a small pitch against a physical, direct team with some exceptional individual talent.

Coton understood the challenge at hand and played a really solid, patient game: controlling possession and creating enough chances to win the game comfortably and put the coaches and parents at ease. Of course this never happened as the profligacy of the Coton attack combined with the determination of the Cambourne defence and the excellence of their goalkeeper, meant that the outcome was never certain until the final whistle. Alice, extra motivated by playing against her old team, had another outstanding game leading the line for Coton - battling against an uncompromising Cambourne defence and generally coming out on top - only the post, the crossbar and Vicki in sticks for the home side stopping her from scoring. Cambourne were physical and direct but when Coton were able to get the ball down and start playing they looked really threatening with Mads, Pauline, Shannon and Ilazki playing with accuracy and intelligence to work the ball into the space behind the Cambourne left back for India to exploit with her pace. After a couple of attempts saved at the near post and numerous crosses out in the middle, eventually, towards the end of the first half, the inevitable happened and the deadlock was broken with India firing in a chance across the keeper. Coton had played slightly uphill in the first half and with the breeze against them and credit must go to their defence styling alert in the face of a barrage of long balls bouncing awkwardly and unpredictably. Every time AJ and Tes were up to the task, calmly getting the ball under control and either clearing to safety or playing a simple pass to a teammate, as the situation demanded. Their control gave Emilia and Bam the confidence and licence to push forward down the flanks and both of them made excellent contributions both in defence and attack.

An injury to AJ meant a bit of a reshuffle at half time with Mads dropping to centre back and Lia going to right back. Annie also came into the midfield to offer some extra physicality. The second half carried on in much the same vein as the first with Coton controlling possession and territory but struggling to breach the Cambourne defence. India was sent through 1 on 1 a couple of times but the ball ran away from her and Shannon, Alice, Pauline, Bam and Ilazki all had shots from the edge of the box which were either saved by the keeper or whistled narrowly wide. One nil is a dangerous scoreline and although Tes and Lia snuffed out any danger that came their way and cha barely had a save to make, the longer the score remained at one nil, the nervier things became. After several forays by Emilia and Pauline down the right which resulted in half chances and a succession of corners, the second goal eventually came. Emilia found India in space on the left via some sublime skill from Shannon and her left footed strike deflected off a defender and looped over the keeper. Not quite job done, but nearly. The rest of the half played out without too much drama thanks to a vital last ditch challenge from Lia on the Cambourne striker, having tracked back brilliantly. Prior to that Mads and Tes had been majestic in defence despite the big loss of our defensive leader AJ at half time. Cha didn't have a lot to do today but her kicking and distribution were consistently on point as we have come to expect this season. Annie and Ilazki really got control of the midfield by winning the first and second balls time and time again. Last shout out goes to Bam though who put in real shift and created the moment of the match with a Cruyff turn on the edge of her own box to escape 2 attackers. Could have gone horribly wrong (and please never do that again!) but was genius.

Thanks to Cambourne for hosting a cracking game and good luck to them for the remainder of the season 👍⚽️ ... See MoreSee Less