U14 Reds Defeat Abbey on the Road to Cement their Position at Top of the Table

Excellent Team performance in crucial fixture

In the second of 3 important matches for CPLFC U14 Reds, cumulating with next week’s Cup Semi Final Vs AFC Wimbledon, they travelled to Addlestone to face Abbey Rangers, mathematically the biggest threat to CPLFC’s position in the League, having the best win ratio, though with significantly fewer matches played.

With confidence high after a 2-0 win over same opposition last time, and on the back of 4 clean sheets, the game, hosted on the large pitch in front of the Abbey Club House, was an opportunity for CPLFC to prove their credentials as potential League winners, and with a strong wind blowing across the pitch, CPLFC lined up with the back 5 of Rebekah, Emily, Megan, Lucy and Tayla, Mia L and Shola in the middle, Hann W on the left and Hann McM on the right, with Rebecca and Elle upfront.

From the outset, with the middle of the pitch badly cut up, the game was always going to be best played on the wings and both sides had periods of pressure in the first 15 mins. Both Hannah’s were impressive with penetrating runs, and were a constant threat throughout the game, and both Elle and Rebecca were unlucky not to find themselves on the end of crosses as the Abbey defence were well marshalled. On the occasion where the ball went through the middle Mia L and Shola tried to pass the ball on a bobbly surface and were tenacious in their defensive duties.

After a brief spell of pressure from CPLFC, Abbey got into the match via their strong runners on the wings and Tayla was put under pressure from the wind assisted cross field balls behind her back, but coped well, ably assisted by Lucy and a couple of corners were won, however the high wind prevented the ball from getting past the front post and CPLFC were able to clear.

The action in the game then moved to the other flank and Abbey exploited their home pitch well, dropping balls over Emily’s head, however Megan was on hand to assist and Abbey were limited to a single chance from a cross cum shot which drifted in the wind onto Rebekah’s cross bar and for a while the game became scrappy with CPLFC’s passes going astray, sometimes due to the quality of the pitch but more often due to the midfield not offering simple “out balls” for the defence by either being far too far away (on such a poor pitch) or not creating an angle for a simple pass, expecting “eye of the needle” passes (easy to do on the 4G, not so much on the quagmire), which resulted in Abbey getting on the ball more in the CPLFC half and loosening off some long range, but harmless shots, or when attempting to breach the centre of the CPLFC defence, found Lucy to be almost unbeatable (much to the despair of the tenacious Abbey striker) and Megan’s reading of the game giving her that extra second on the ball, allowing her to clear intelligently.

As the half wore on, as long as CPLFC kept the ball on the wings, the pace of both Hannah’s and the work rate of Elle and Rebecca upfront with and without the ball was always going to cause Abbey problems but there was no breakthrough for CPLFC

The battle in the middle of the park was understandably scrappy, but both Shola and Mia L seemed to enjoying themselves however CPLFC lost Mia L to a facial injury as she stumbled on a divot and crashed accidentally into the shin/knee of the Abbey midfield, injuring her cheek and sadly having to be substituted for the rest of the game. A reshuffle was required and Jessica, Maya, Elizabeth, and Mia Q were introduced, and Hannah W was pushed upfront.

The breakthrough came towards the end of the half when Tayla fed Maya who flew down the wing, passed to Hannah W and her as attempted cross ping ponged around the box back to her feet, scooped the ball into the roof of the net with her left foot, much to the delight of the CPLFC parents who were standing behind the goal !

HT 1-0

The second half saw an expected reversal of the effect of the wind on CPLFC and with Hannah McM excelling on the right wing, latterly swopping with Maya who had been equally impressive on the right earlier, CPLFC began to dominate the game, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Mia Q worked incredibly hard to win the ball when not in possession (not sure I’ve seen Elizabeth win so many headers nor intercept so many passes on the slide) Abbey began to drop back to the edge of their box and it became obvious that their dogged defence would need something special for it to be broken as Hannah’s crosses were snuffed out and Maya not Hannah W could not get a break in the box, the latter committing the cardinal sin of a full air shot when presented with an almost open goal (next time don’t think too much Hannah !).

The second goal came from Elle, but credit needs to given to Lucy who having robustly winning a crucial tackle in the middle of the pitch, allowing the ball to fall to Mia Q, who’s pass went to Elle. With a defender to beat, she dropped her shoulder, swayed past the defender and having spotted the keeper coming off her line, lifted the ball over her head ….. glancing of the fingers of the keeper and dropping into the goal, leaving the away fans elated !

2-0

The game began to become a little fractured after this point, with numerous injuries to Abbey players and a series of free kicks in both directions as emotions bubbled to the surface. Abbey continued to pressurise CPLFC primarily on the left wing where Hannah W, having ran her socks off moved back to left back, Tayla to left wing (nosebleed time!) and Emily restored to right back and a couple of corners were won, this time with the help of the wind, caused a fair degree of panic in the CPLFC box, but no goal for Abbey, and in truth throughout the game, outside of some through balls which Rebekah had to be alert to mop up, her activity was limited to goal kicks which she handled in typical efficient fashion.

Whilst 2 goals were always unlikely to be recovered from with 20 mins to go, CPLFC didn’t sit back and continued to leverage their advantage on the wings to great effect and Maya was desperately unlucky to see her shot from the left across the keeper trickle past the right post, and Rebecca’s smart turn and shot fly past the left post, and the third goal came from Elle in similar fashion to her first, the ball was won in the middle by Elizabeth, fed out to the right to Hannah Mc and her cross to the edge of the box fell to Elle who took two steps and rifled the ball into the far corner !

3-0

Even with the game seemingly won, CPLFC began to revel in their dominance of the game and further injuries and stoppages occurred as Abbey began to wilt physically from the determination and imposing strength of Elizabeth, Lucy and Maya the game began to peter out, with CPLFC happy to pass the ball around and Abbey limited to hopeful long balls which did not threaten the CPLFC goal.

FT 3-0

This match was crucial in terms of result and preparation for the Wimbledon game next week. From an observers point of view it was a great example of hard work, team work and flexibility, and no little talent. Well done ladies !