Mount Colah Football Club

Mt Colah A U14 Girls v Lindfield A U14 Girls

Queen Elizabeth Reserve, Bradfield Road, Lindfield
Round 1 - Sunday 3rd April 2011

Player of the Match - Sally

Ally takes possession
while Shannon and Sally look on

Sunday brought beautiful weather for the Mt Colah Girls Under 14 team’s first match of the season. Eager to capitalise on their successful 1-0 trial game over the Northern Tigers on Thursday, the girls looked pumped and full of energy, albeit maybe a touch apprehensive of playing Lindfield’s A team.
The opening minutes of the first half saw Mt Colah put under pressure straight away by Lindfield as the home team pushed forward. Karissa was forced to make a save only minutes into the game; just managing to hold the ball and bring it back to safety. However it wasn’t long before Lindfield were attacking again, but some great defence by Jess soon saw them off, and Mt Colah now began to push forward. Some great pressure by our midfielders saw the ball put through to Sas who then played a lovely pass to Elyse to put her 1 on 1 with the Lindfield keeper, and she calmly drove the ball past her to make it 1-0 to Mount Colah!
Minutes later and not to be left out, Sas tried to make it 2-0, with a lovely strong shot, but unfortunately it was straight at the keeper – an easy save for her. We regained possession from the resulting goal kick and Sally threaded a pass through to Elyse for a run onto goal, but the Lindfield keeper came off her line and just got to the ball first. Mt Colah were certainly upping the pressure, staying in Lindfield’s goal and refusing to back down - something had to happen, and sure enough it did a few minutes later, with a clearance rebounding off Sas onto a Lindfield defender, who then couldn’t stop the ball from rebounding again into their net – the goalie got a hand to it, but could do no more. A sad own goal for Lindfield, but 2-0 to the Mount Colah girls!
Lindfield pressed hard for the remainder of the half, with several runs toward our goal, but some great clearances by Gabby, and some nifty footwork by Eliza in midfield thwarted their attempts. It was pretty much end-to end action from then on, with some lovely balls being put in the box from the wings; Gabby having a cracker of a shot that just went over the bar, and a good run by Sas that had her 1 on1 with the keeper before we were flagged for offside. In-between this, Karissa was keeping active at the other end making some great saves to deny Lindfield any goals, that being on the rare occurrence that any forwards actually managed to get past Erin and Sally (which wasn’t very often!). Halftime result: Lindfield 0:2 Mt Colah
The second half started off at a brisk pace, with Mt Colah pushing forward for the first few minutes, with Sally and Gabby trying for the third goal between them. However, as Lindfield tried their hardest to make a comeback and put a mark on the game, they gradually forced the girls back and started to gain more possession in the midfield, making lots of runs into our half. There followed quite a few tense minutes in the Mt Colah Supporters Camp as Lindfield threw all they had at us, with shot after shot on goal. New goalkeeper Gabby done an awesome job in keeping them at bay and also avoiding the huge muddy puddle in the goal mouth, ably assisted by Ally, Shannon and Frances who endeavored to clear everything that Lindfield were sending our way and put their bodies between the Lindfield strikers and our goal.
Finally the girls managed to clear it from out of our half, and they were away again, catching Lindfield on the hop… after a few minutes build up of passes, deflections, tackles and re-possessions, the ball finally fell to Shannon who booted it from a fair way out to make it 3-0. Great goal from one of our new players!
After the restart, Lindfield pressed forward once more, and to their credit, they didn’t give up, firing a fair few shots at goal and winning numerous corners along the way. After 2 more magnificent saves from Gabby, Lindfield finally managed to squeeze a great shot in that got past everyone – they had their reward at last after all their hard work and the score now stood at 3-1
With 10 minutes left in the game, Lindfield were desperate for 2 or even 3 more, but it wasn’t to be, as the Mt Colah girls kept back and protected the lead with Sally and Eliza both saving the day with their excellent defence and tackling in the final few minutes….
Full time, and first win of the season to the Mighty Mount Colah Girls… may there be many more!
Final score Lindfield A 1-3 Mount Colah A

Trev Bowdidge