26/02/23 League Match Away
Abbey Youth u12 girls 0 – 3 BHFC U12 Lionesses
Scorers: (Polly x 2, Mia)
Report by Mark Camley
Pass the Dutchie
The team name Abbey Youth to a passed middle aged, white man unnaturally led to a remembrance of Musical Youth and their 1980’s lyrically and musically light anthem which is now an earworm for me, now hopefully shared with you – dear reader. So the trip north, provided a memorable match but rather unremarkable entertainment.
The match, much like the sun was in and out but unlike the weather the match heated up as it went on – the temperature, unfortunately for those watching, descended as the match went on.
Thus the hottest thing for spectators was the 5-10 mins driving round trying to find a parking spot. Although that was more successful than the search for a warm tea or coffee some went on an impossible quest for.
After an unremarkable start with little shape to the play. Polly made an excellent run from the halfway line but couldn’t find the target with her shot.
This was followed by a succession of Abbey corners punctuated by Dulcie and Yva switching between the sticks and both bringing off good stops from dangerous dead balls.
However, the predominant feature of the first (and if truth be told most of the second half) was foul throws. If you said to the Lionesses that you must stand on one leg and then throw the ball from behind your head in a single motion then they would all complain about how hard it was – yet one after another they lined up to do exactly that. Some of them were so proficient at it that they lined up and did it 2, 3 and 4 times.
But the second half was marked for four other things. First, Lola had a couple of powerful efforts just wide and then Mia scored from a low shot and a goalkeeping error that resulted in the (whole of the) ball crossing the line (just) and while the referee was not inclined to give a goal the home linesman did. However, he was less generous to the Lionesses a few moments later in the second incident when following the best move of the match to that point, which resulted in Emily sprinting through and springing the offside trap, the linesman failed to spot the last three defenders and flagged Emily offside.
Whether spurned on by this or not, this galvanised the Lionesses, who through Polly, who scored two great goals. First, she showed great composure to wait for the right time to shoot as all the parents were calling, “Shoot Polly, shoot” before placing her shot in the postage stamp corner. Finally, following a great run and pass from Emily, Polly slid in her second and the team’s third.
So three goals, three points clean sheet, job done and back down the road. I do hope though that the dutchie has some warm soup in it.
Congratulations to Yva who made her 50th Lionesses appearance.
