Aylesbury & Thame U14 Girls v West Herts U14 Girls

Match report from Aylesbury coach:

Aylesbury and Thame U14 Girls travelled to West Herts on a glorious, sunny afternoon looking to replicate their previous winning performance against Gerrards Cross earlier in the season. Boasting a squad of 15 players the initial challenge was working out how to get everyone on the pitch (not at the same time) as well as where everyone preferred to play. The first quarter saw West Herts apply relentless pressure on the Aylesbury and Thame team with fine work at the back from Jess Chandler, Phoebe Liscombe-Stephens, Evie Barnes and McKenzie Gurney keeping the score level. The A&T midfield of Alex Collins, Rowan Chantrey, Jodie Williams, Amalie Cleveland and Emily Vaughan worked hard but struggled to get the ball forward to Kiera Foster and Freya Lodwick although we did create a couple of breakaway chances.

Some well-considered changes to the line-up saw A&T gain ground in the second quarter, with Kiera Foster pushed out to right half causing particular trouble to West Herts, before Inge Drotske scored the opener somewhat against the run of play. Going into the second half with a single goal lead A&T increased their work rate, regularly getting to the ball first and creating a string of breakaway chances. Kiera Foster scored what must be the slowest goal of her career to take a 2-0 lead into the final quarter but West Herts came back aggressively to score making it 2-1. The final 15 minutes saw some excellent play by both sides – A&T working hard to create goal scoring chances that Holly Watson was unlucky to miss in spite of her hard work and West Herts applying considerable pressure in their quest for an equaliser. At the other end, Imogen Clark kept goal with composure, while A&T saw out a short corner awarded right at the end of the game to win the match. Alex Collins was nominated player of the match by West Herts. Overall a very good team performance against a physical West Herts side and it was especially pleasing to see how hard the team worked to resist the pressure in the opening quarter, to not only get back into the game but to win it with strong team play. Well done girls!