The under 18 Girls lost to Repton on flicks after a thrilling draw in the final of the National Indoor Championship.
They started the “Pool of Death” against a strong Dean Close outfit who took the lead halfway through the first half. Two goals in two minutes just before halftime via a short corner and open play gave us a lead at the interval. The game was stopped for some time after a sliding tackle from their keeper that upended Boau-Lilly who had to be stretchered off to hospital and take no further part in the tournament. Bizarrely no penalty was awarded and with Dean Close getting a second goal we had to settle for a draw.
Next up were our rivals Repton and a great game ensued – it was nip and tuck until halfway through the second half they scored a short corner that proved to be the only goal of the match. Dean Close had beaten Great Marlow 3-0 so the least we had to do was win by 4 goals to put the pressure on Dean Close when they played Repton after us. We were 3 up after 9 minutes though it could have been double that and they scored just before halftime to make it 3-1. We dominated the second half but it took until the last 3 minutes for us to score two more goals to seal a deserved 5-1 victory. Although Dean Close somehow held out against Repton in the first half, the latter scored two in the second half to confirm our passage to the semis.
There we faced another old foe in Framlingham who took a lead before we equalised – 1-1 at halftime. A few adjustments and we played excellently to get 3-1 ahead before they threw everything at us but were repelled by a couple of great saves by Skye in goal.
So to the final against Repton – almost a tradition for this group of girls. They scored in the second minute but we got a foothold in the game soon after and we started to dominate possession in the second half resulting in an equaliser 4 minutes from time and almost a winner with a minute to go. It had been a top quality game of indoors between two quality teams. So for the third final in a row this contest went to flicks. They scored, we hit the post, they scored, we scored, we saved…. and they saved! Fine margins but we knew that we had performed extremely well. We finished as runners-up, bearing in mind we had lost Boau-Lilly in the first game, Liv B. had tested positive two days before and Mattie was on crutches after her op, this was an outstanding performance and testament to the hours of effort and sheer ability of the squad.
Squad for the whole competition:
Skye B., Liv B., Katie C., Liv G., Mattie H., Grace J., Siena K., Georgie L., Tory L., Liv M., Immi P., India S., Boau-Lilly S., Pippi S., Eliza W.
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