Sunday 17th January 2010
Pevensey 5 v Dynamo GFC 1

Despite the bad weather of the previous week, it was a relief to get a match under our belts. Unfortunately a New Year didn’t mean a new start for the girls and it was extremely frustrating that many players arrived late to the ground hampering the opportunity for a decent warm-up.

With two players out on the morning of the game it also meant just having 9 players for what was on paper a winnable fixture. Despite the lack of a warm-up for some of the girls, they started well and for the first 15 minutes or so the game was extremely even with both teams competing well. Pevensey were first to break the deadlock and went on to finish the first half 3-0 up.

For the second half some of the players swapped positions and again we started brightly then conceded another goal whilst Ruby was off with an injury. Charly scored a superb goal from a corner and we had other opportunities to get back into the match but a handball lead to a penalty and game over.

In my view we lost the game from a failure to prepare rather then being outclassed on the pitch. Again I must remind parents that players really need to be at the ground a good 45 minutes before kick off to enable them to warm-up and prepare for the match. Had we done so on this occasion I think the result would have been vastly different.

Overall all the girls contributed but I must highlight above average performances from Ellen who played upfront in the first half and midfield for the second. Her corners were superb. Jasmine really battled in the right back and right midfield position and I look forward to seeing her improvements continue as she gains more match practice. Finally our birthday girl in goal. Abbie is a cracking goalkeeper (though needs to still shout at her defence a la Almunia!) and made a couple of cracking saves to keep the score line credible.

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