Oadby & Wigston 2 v 5 Rugby Borough

Having last played at Oadby & Wigstons’ ground last season in the League Cup Final, we were all looking forward to playing on a familiar pitch that holds very happy memories.  This time though we were playing an Oadby Team who are doing really well topping their league, this time in the County Cup Quarter finals.

A very windy weekend meant the coaches knew the girls would have to play a passing game to stay in control, which is exactly what they started off doing.  With a couple of players missing the line up saw some changes with Lexie starting on the left wing and Isla on the right.  This proved to be a very good decision as within the first 5 minutes Lexie strikes at goal, their keeper hit it out but Isla ran straight in for the rebound to score.

Borough were showing great passing from early on, Peyton, playing in central defence was sending some wonderful balls high up the pitch to continue the attacks, our right and left backs Faith & Freya were pushing up the pitch, with Freya having a great strike at goal that forced their keeper into a save that resulted in a corner.  The corner found Megan’s head but it unfortunately went wide by a matter of inches.  Then Faith wins the ball in defence, makes a great pass up the line to Lexie who headed towards the goal, striking from out wide she hits it into the top corner.

From the starting line up we could see that Oadby had decided to go with 4 in defence, this meant that Ruby, who battled hard the whole game, found herself constantly with multiple players around her, undeterred, her understanding of the game came into play, she made sure to use her team mates, with lots of support from Isla, to keep up the attacks on goal.

A breakaway ball called Chloe into action for the first time this half, with her securely getting her hands on it.  Back up to the other end and their goal kick was intercepted by Megan in the middle of the pitch, she strikes from outside the box to score.

Mia in CDM was breaking up the play and putting some wonderful passes through to the forwards and was unfortunate not to get one of her ‘now signature’ long range shots not to go in.

Ava was called upon to use her speed against their tricky number 9, she shows her strength to win the ball back, passes it to Megan who plays it into a forward space for Lexie to run onto, another great strike makes it 4-0.

Just before half time a late tackle just outside our box meant they were awarded a free kick, our now relatively tall wall of Freya, Megan and Ava couldn’t stop the ball, but Peyton had positioned herself perfectly on a post to make a brilliant clearance, keeping us well on top.

In total contrast to last weeks game where the girls played better in the second half compared to the first, this week they flipped it, maybe feeling a little too comfortable and with Oadby changing things up they came out on the attack meaning Chloe had to make a few saves within the first few minutes. One of these attacks went their way and they pulled a goal back.

With Oadby piling on the pressure our defence were called upon to make sure they were keeping their line and clearing any dangerous balls, Peyton seemed to be everywhere, making slide tackles, winning the ball and making precision passes.  Ava and Faith both showed their strength & skill in the full back positions to prevent attacks and also build play to our wingers to give us more chances, Freya moved into CM and was linking up well with Anna who had come onto the wing, this link up created chances for both girls, plus Anna’s crosses were being beautifully placed for Lexie   and Ruby to have more shots.

A well timed cross from Megan found Lexie, who was having a stint at striker, for her to get her hat-trick.  With play now going from one end to the other, Chloe was a lot busier, she made some great saves, but one long range strike just managed to tip over her fingers into the net.

Oadby came alive in the second half and will be a good team to go up against when they join our league next season.  

POM goes to Peyton for putting her everything into the match, literally put her body on the line.  

Not all games can be won by the forwards, it’s easy to talk about goal scorers, but without our sturdy defence we wouldn’t be the team we are. We now move onto the Semi Finals.