Wyrley U18s Girls 6 Chasetown Youth 1
What can I say about this great group of girls that hasn’t been said before? A magnificent performance that gained them the recognition their ability and determination deserve.
Wyrley approached the game with the bad news that Beth Crook had to miss out after injury in training on Monday night. As a result the girls were determined to win the game for her.
Wyrley had a flying start after 4 minutes, when Laura Cumberledge cut in from the left and hit a screamer over the keeper and into the right hand roof of the net. Further chances went begging including a difficult volley from Laura Lindsay off an Emily Quimby corner, two fine headers off corners by Cath Davis, one well saved and one that just went past the post. Chasetown battled hard to stay in the game and a long ball over the top after 30 minutes led to confusion in the Wyrley defence and was poked home for the equaliser. This setback unsettled Wyrley for a while as it was against the run of play and Chasetown started to build on their goal. 2 long range efforts were well held by Nia Jay in the Wyrley goal. The girls settled themselves and a clearance from the keeper fell to Emily just on the centre circle and her speculative left foot effort bounced high over the keeper to give a deserved half time lead, prompting a celebration hug with Beth on the touchline.
The second half saw Wyrley step up a gear and their passing game came to the fore. A pass through from Quimby found Sophie Shorrock 30 yards out. She moved into the box unopposed and smashed the ball to the keeper’s right to create a 2 goal gap. With nerves eased, Wyrley pushed on. Laura Cumberledge again cut in and scored another cracking goal, opening her body to lift the ball over the keeper and into the far post netting – 4 1.
Jemma Clews was the inspiration for the 5th goal, wriggling her way through 3 players near the touchline and crossing the ball hard and low for Becky Jones to side foot home. Laura Cumberledge wasn’t finished, however, and she scored a third which was almost a replayed action shot of her first 2 – a magnificent hat trick.
The final whistle resulted in jubilant scenes from the Wyrley folk and girls.
The Chasetown girls did not let their heads drop throughout and despite the scoreline this certainly was not a one-sided affair. Tony can be proud of his girls and he was very complimentary in defeat. Chasetown have a final next Wednesday and we will try and go along to support his team.
Highlights of the girls: –
Nia Jay – confident in her distribution and held on to the efforts that came her way.
Leah Fanning – worked hard all game and linked up well with Laura Cumberledge
Amy Marshall – back to her confident self, snuffing out danger and moving forward with the ball at every opportunity
Cath Davis – at times was heading the ball from clearances in the Chasetown half, so determined was she to clear the ball. Like Amy, did the simple things well.
Dom McKee – all action, full of energy and had a tremendous game
Hayley Turner – full of running against a very quick opponent, but still got to the byline to cross the ball in dangerously
Becky Jones – also came up against probably Chasetown’s best player on the night but took her goal well
Laura Lindsay – listened to prematch instructions to her and Emily and played with maturity to ensure at least one central midfield player held their position. A number of through balls to Hayley and Becky caused problems
Emily Quimby – a captain’s performance, leading by example. Scored a fortunate goal but had two other efforts that went close
Lauren Gilbert – brought on to create 3 in the middle and worked hard
Laura Cumberledge – her goal on Saturday and the 3 in this game were very, very similar and all were exceptionally put away
Sophie Shorrock – took her goal well, had some half chances in the first half and closed down the defence at every opportunity
Jemma Clews – her run to create the 5th goal was exceptional. Close control caused problems all game
Saff Hicken – had a run out up front and we all thought she was in for a chance when she turned 2 players.
Rachel Hall – because of the 3 subs rule, was unable to be brought on, which is hard on Rach as she has been a central figure this season.
Many thanks go to the following who made the night so successful: –
Staffs FA for their organisation
The 4 officials
Chasetown for their very fair and committed approach to the game
Heath Hayes FC for their kind hospitality
EVERYONE of the girls in the squad
The parents for their support and
The Wyrley support that was so large hot food sold out!
And a big thank you to someone who provided extra motivation over the weekend with their comments and helped galvanise the team into winning.
Some photos below of the successful night!
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