Date: 08/01/2006
Tournament: Pitshanger Lane Ladies vs BAWFC (Russell Cup 1st Round)
Author: Simone Rapa
Player of the match:
A cold, wet, miserable day did not dampen the BA ladies’ spirits who came out all guns blazing in our fine new kit. Amrik’s advice made sense - play our game and no diddling from the back as the driving wind and rain would make it difficult to be accurate and the best approach was play safe.
A young Pitshanger team looked as though they meant business, and from the kick-off had us on the ropes - but this proved to be momentary. Within minutes we had taken over the game and an excellent "one-two" from Char to Nav culminated in a cool finish from Livvy - 1-0 to BA.
The second goal came soon after - an angled shot from Livvy looked to be narrowly missing the target but Char cheekily tapped it in on the goal line. 2-0 and another Pitshanger kick-off and another opportunity for Louise to take possession and start another BA attack. The ball was played forward and Livvy was 1 on 1 with the goalie. Livvy showed great composure by taking the ball around the GK for goal number 3.
Another kick-off and the Pitshanger girls were again unable to get anything past our formidable centre midfield team of Lou and Stacey. Another goal looked like it was coming from Livvy - the goalie was unable to catch the ball and fumbled it - Nav leapt forward, took a neat little step around the goalie’s hands and stuck the ball in the back of the net. 4-0 and half time not yet in sight.
Goal number 5 came from a lob from Char who was almost balletic in the way she dodged some very late tackles! At some stage we became a little complacent and Pitshanger exploited a rare opportunity to get deep into our half. The ball was played out for a corner - a beautiful shot whistled over our heads, including Svit’s, and Pitshanger broke their duck. However, the compliment was re-paid by a final goal by Livvy before half-time making the HT score 6-1.
No changes to the starting line-up as Belinda was suffering from a nasty cough but toughed it out on the touch-line in case a sub was needed. Having taken on board the feedback from our coach, we upped our game and Char took another 2 qoals and Nav scored a fantastic goal from the half-way line making it 9-1.
A change to the formation followed and Kirsty moved up leaving Simone, Line and Preeti at the back, and within minutes Kirsty "I’m not a defenderW proved her point emphatically by scoring from a splendid strike! A few more near misses, moments of drama and sheer audacious play - who can forget Preeti’s diagonal run into the Pitshanger penalty box - and it was all over.
BA Women’s 10- Pitshanger Ladies1 and through to the next round - come on BA!
