Bedlington Town Tigers v Bedlington Town Wildcats

11 February 2012

We woke this morning to a cold but frost free day, and the good news that we had a Wildcats game to watch for only the second time this year. The Bedlington Town derby between the Tigers and the Wildcats was moved to The Hartlands as the grass was longer than the pitch at the High School and this enabled the game to go ahead.

We have known the Tigers since the formation of Wildcats, but this was to be the first competitive game between the teams although some of the previous training encounters had seen the Tigers coming out on top; that was two years ago however and we were ready to make the most of the chance to close the gap at the top of the league and both Monty Pumas and North Shields games were cancelled.

We had a full squad available again for the game and after warm up (it was certainly needed!!), Monty told the girls to concentrate on our usual game and to make full use of the width of the pitch; we should play fast skilful football when we were in possession and when the ball was with the Tigers, we needed to close them down and work hard to get the ball back.

It was cold and overcast, but there was little or no wind and the pitch was soft. The grass was longish so we would need to play the ball that bit harder to make sure that it reached its target.

Tigers were to kick the game off as Monty sent out Moley in goal with Caz, Ellie and George in front of her. Amy, Mazie (who was captain for the day) and Bella were in midfield with Alice and Lauren up front. Demi and Erin were ready on the side line to come in to the game as required.

We soon gained possession of the ball and Bella was sent away down the left wing and her cross found Lauren who took one touch and slotted the ball past the Tigers 'keeper but the 'goal' was disallowed for what must have been a very close off side decision against us. We were in control of most of the game, but when the Tigers mounted their first attack, it was comfortable dealt with before we were able to send Lauren away down her wing to centre for Alice who was unlucky not to see her shot hit the back of the net.

Another Tigers attack was snuffed out by Ellie at the expense of a corner which was well defended and we were able to set Bella away again for another run on goal only for her shot to be well saved.

Lauren and Amy were replaced by Demi and Erin and we continued to dominate the game but we were unable to turn this domination into goals; we are usually slow starters in games after a long lay off. We did however open the scoring after a period of very near misses and good saves. Bella had another shot parried away to Alice whose shot was well saved. Erin then had a good attempt saved before Demi collected the ball and out ran the Tigers defenders before picking her spot with the goal keeper well beaten this time.

The best bit of football so far in the game came when Caz collected the ball, and with time to look up, sent a ball down the wing for Alice to latch on to and then find Erin with an accurate cross but once again the shot was well saved. This was encouraging, and hopefully it would lead to more goals for the Wildcats and we almost saw another goal when Demi was again set up by Erin and her shot was just over the bar.

Moley was replaced in goal by Lauren and Amy came back on for Alice but before they could influence the game, the referee blew what seemed like a very early whistle for the end of the first half.

We were undoubtedly the better team in the first half, and how we only had one goal to show for our efforts was anyone's guess; perhaps we had not come to terms with the longer grass on the pitch; perhaps it was because we were rusty after the long lay off; perhaps we were not using the width of the field enough. Whatever the reason, we were more than capable of giving the Tigers a torrid time in the second half.

Monty encouraged the girls to up their game and sent out Erin in goal with Caz and George in front of her. We then lined up with two banks of three with Amy, Mazie and Moley in midfield and Demi, Lauren and Bella in attack.

The second half was barely under way when a terrible mix up in defence allowed Tigers to score a really sloppy goal which trickled into the net just inside the right hand goal post. The ball should have been cleared easily, but it wasn't and the scores were level. They were not level long however as Lauren gathered the ball from a Demi cross and calmly beat the goalie to restore our lead within a minute of conceding.  Two minutes later Demi took the Wildcats total to three as she out stripped the Tigers defence again and found the net this time. Three became four very quickly after that when yet another Demi run was cleared but only as far as Lauren who scored easily. Three goals in five minutes had certainly warmed the crowd up and it looked as if it had broken the spirit of the Tigers players. The game was becoming a bit more physical now, but we are able to look after ourselves more than was the case at the start of the season and Wildcats were not intimidated by this.

Moley was the next to get on the score sheet when she fought her way through a mass of defenders to roll the ball past the Tigers 'keeper for goal number five. We were making better use of the width of the pitch now and our faster wingers were able to provide more chances as they stretched the defenders leaving more room in the middle of the pitch. Amy almost increased the lead when she had a shot saved and then hit the rebound onto the post before latching on to the ball again only to see it saved for a second time. After this second save however the ball found its way to Demi who hit goal number six and complete another hat trick for the Wildcats.

We were attacking almost constantly now but our enthusiasm led to a number of off side decisions against us. The girls began to look out for this however and started to time their runs better to avoid the flag and this led to Demi holding back her run before accepting a pass down the wing from Caz, she looked up and found Lauren with a fine centre to take the goal tally to seven and to complete her own hat trick. Seven became eight with a very similar move where Alice this time beat the offside trap and cut the ball back from the goal line to find Demi on hand to score her fourth of the game.

Amy hit the post again before setting out on another run and she shot……….against the post yet again. (with three shots coming back off the post and a further two cleared off the goal line it was not the luckiest game for Amy!!!). The pressure paid off when Lauren was set free and had a relatively easy run on goal to pick her spot and score her own fourth of the game and the Wildcats ninth.

Monty then decided to change the formation again with Alice taking over in goal, Amy and Demi dropping back into defence with Caz and George pushed forward. The new set up almost produced an immediate goal when Caz was set free on the right only to see her shot well saved. Further shots from George and Erin made the goal keeper work, but we were unable to score again before the final whistle blew with the Wildcats having won by nine goals to one.

Monty was pleased with the way the girls had played, especially in the second half, but reminded them that they should be more determined to recover the ball when it was lost. He reminded them that once they started using the width of the pitch in the second half they were a much better team and it was then that the goals started to flow.

Girl of the game was given to Alice for her non stop running and Monty's girl of the game was given to Mazie because she showed the most determination to win the ball.

The up to date League Table shows us to be three points off the top with a big gap between ourselves and the Jags in fourth place.

We do not have a game next week as the cup semi final away from home against North Shields has been postponed until the following week (25th February). We then have a further two week period without a game while three Wildcats are away on a school trip, before we get back into action with another very important game against Monty Pumas in the league.

It is fantastic to think that at this stage of the season, we can still win the cup and be equal top of the league if we win our remaining matches. It is sometimes easy to forget that our girls are at least a year younger than the other teams in the league and we can certainly be very proud of the way the Wildcats have performed this season.

Keep it up girls and we will all meet again next week if the weather holds out and the pitches remain playable.