Great teamwork leads to young squad continuing to progress

On a glorious Sunday afternoon, the Sils U14 Girls entertained Banbury and Harborne for a triangular U14 Girls tournament. There were due to be 3 other teams there as well, but obviously they were fearful of being shown up by this rapidly developing Sils squad and so stayed at home!

With Banbury beating Harborne in the first of the 3 games, Sils knew their first match, against the Oxfordshire team, would be the tougher one. Banbury, having already played one match, started the stronger, with most of their attacks being driven by to key players. However, Jessica Cox was in great form at the back, and was covering a great deal of space to try and keep the scoresheet clean. She was ably supported by our impressive guest GK Lottie (from Hampton), and they kept Banbury at bay for the first 10 minutes. However, from a PC, with an initial save being made, the ball rebounded favourably to a visiting forward who opened the scoring from close range.

However, this only served to spur the home team on, and they began to link up much more effectively. Jess was working in tandem at the back with Flo Collins to stem the attacks, and set up attacks of their own. The ball was beginning to find Emilia Moberley and Lorna Scott Brooks in midfield, and in turn, they were giving the hard-working Eva Robinson the chance up front to test the opposition defence, and their GK. However, the equaliser came when the third of the Sils midfielders, Amy Garside, chased down a pass from Robinson, which hit the post and remained just next to the goal for an easy finish.

This goal energised the Sils further, and they soon took the lead, Moberley playing a fabulous cross-field ball to Robinson who was able to score and give the home side the lead.

Sils continued to create chances, but with only seconds to go before half-time (and possibly, even slightly over time...) the dangerous Banbury forward broke down the right and managed to fire into the bottom corner.

Sils brought on fresh legs for the second half, with Carys Rowland, Abby Richards and Melissa Thurman joining in, but even though all three of these were full of running, and had a number of half chances, and won a few penalty corners, they could not find the decisive goal. Meanwhile Lottie made several important saves to keep the score at deadlock.

So, with a 2-2 result behind them, Sils took on a Harborne side who had just been resting. This rest served Harborne well, and the first part of the match was fairly even, with both sides scoring early goals - however, Sils better ability on the ball soon told and by half-time it was 4-1. 3 further goals in the second half, saw Sils finish 7-1 winners. Goals were shared around the team, and all in all, a thoroughly impressive afternoon for the team that actually only contained one player who is U14 - providing much promise of further improved performances next year.