Friday 3rd October saw the under 11 girls’ football squad travel to Bede’s on the south coast in search of qualification for the IAPS national finals, this year hosted by Cranleigh. Needless to say, with us being hosts, a little extra pressure was present.
Having lost our first match with some lax defending, even getting out of the group was going to require some quality, and some luck. A competent display in the next two matches saw us go into the final group game needing results to go in our favour and for Cranleigh to score four goals. To the girls’ credit, they did just that, with the team squeaking into the Cup semi final by just one goal scored.
With the top three teams in the competition securing qualification, we contrived to blow our first shot at it with a frustrating 2-1 defeat to a muscular opposition. That meant the third-place play-off became a winner takes all affair. Thankfully, there was little about which to be concerned as the girls saved their best till last, dismantling their opponents 3-0 with an aggressive, dynamic, pressing game.
Bronze medal, and more importantly, home tournament qualification secured. We learned a lot of lessons that we can carry forward and showed the type of character that we try to instil in all: keeping calm in choppy waters and finding solutions to potential problems before they affect us.
While the entire team deserve huge credit, particular mentions must go to Auggy S, Marilyn M and Lauren M, all of whom were playing a year up and conducted themselves with confidence and enthusiasm throughout a very long day.
We now look forward to 14th November.
