(Under 9s Pictured)
Under 9s
Larne v Port End Youth
The girls made a slower start on Friday as they faced a boys’ team from North End Youth, and for the first quarter they were a bit reluctant to go into challenges giving the boys time to get their confidence up and score a few goals.
After that, however, they started playing. The girls looked up for passes and created space, and but for a few overly-weighted passes we would have had a lot more goal-scoring opportunities. All the girls were playing out of the danger zone, running lines up the wing and creating chances with a load of near misses for Jodie, Ava and Mia had a great individual goal in the end from Mia as a return.
The best area of improvement last night was our defence – particularly in winning back the ball when we lost it and shutting down the opposition when they came into our half. The girls worked extremely hard last night against a very fast boys’ team and everyone fought hard in defence, from the back pairing right through our midfield, no-one sat back and waited, every one of the girls got stuck in and made life very difficult going forward for the boys.
Plenty of positives and great to see some of the drills and skills from training clicking in with the team week on week.
Lots of girls impressed last night in defence and going forward, however for running until she nearly burst and being so, so impressive in tackling and defending, player of the match was Emma Rogan – phenomenal work rate and fantastic “never-give-up” attitude.
Team of the week nominations:
Emma Rogan
Mia Campbell
Under 10s
A great performance from the under 10s on Friday night. Their passing was brilliant throughout the match tonight with goalkeeper Jodie Marcus playing out from the back. Defenders Eryn Wilson and Luci Brownlee were also impressive. They have been working hard in training playing the ball out from the back so it was fantastic to see this come to fruition. Excellent passing continued all through the team which lead to goals from Amber O’Toole, Paisleigh Baird, Gracie Hodge and Faith Topping. It was a really great team performance with lots of skill on show.
Team of the Week nomination:
Faith Topping
Under 11s
Larne v Crusaders
It was a tough game for the girls against a good Crusaders side who were physical and strong passers. Larne took an early lead with a long range strike from Sophie Aiston. She now has 7 goals in 3 games. However, the girls began to struggle after going ahead.
Crusaders piled the pressure on in the second half, scoring 2 quick goals from a free kick and a corner. Larne woke up after going behind and equalised through Eva McKee. A great finish into the bottom corner.
Larne v St. Mary’s
It’s very much a case of trusting the process for the girls. They dominated large spells of the game and just couldn’t put the ball in the net.
Across the team there is a real game understanding developing and their technical ability has improved tenfold over the last 6-8 weeks.
They got on the ball and played out from the back. The goalkeeper helped them play through the thirds, they continue to get better and better at this. Receiving the ball in tight spaces, their control, ability to now turn and then think forward is coming on so much.
They can still improve their finishing which would add greatly to their game. Their work rate and bravery now to tackle and compete has really improved with more games.
Great performance from everyone.
Special mention to Penny and Anna who just love to get on the ball and play out from the back.
Good goal from Orla who showed trickery and strength before a firm finish past the GK.
Team of the Week nomination
Emma Rogan
Ava McAllister
