Bedlington Town Wildcats v Alnwick

24 September 2011

We were back at The Hartlands today after the away game in mid week against North Shields (which we were awarded with a score of 1 - 0 due to an administrative error by our opponents) and with an almost perfect day for football, we prepared for our first game against the recently formed Alnwick girls.

Alnwick had only played one game before today and had managed a 1 - 1 draw against Morpeth, so they were something of an unknown quantity. We had a full squad to choose from again, and as Monty was in confident mood, he promised that all of the girls would be played out of position at some stage of the game.

The sky was overcast, but it was warm with a slight drizzle which would ensure that the grass would be slippery and we would need to be careful as the ball would skip off the surface and may be difficult to control.

With Mazie and Bella remaining on the sideline for the start of the game, Monty sent out Moley in goal with Caz, Ellie, George and Amy forming the defensive diamond and Erin, Demi, Lauren and Alice in front of them forming the second diamond. We kicked off the game in our blue and white stripes which were being worn for the first time this season in a league match.

It was obvious very early on that we were by far the better team when first Alice and then Demi scored in the first five minutes from defensive errors. We were able to play some pretty football and were continuously attacking the Alnwick goal with shots being fired wide before Lauren took the ball down the left wing and scored number three. Alice then had a goal correctly disallowed for offside before we had three corners in quick succession with shots again fired wide and over the bar.

Demi was brought off to prepare for a period in goal and was replaced by Mazie who was involved immediately when she carried the ball down her right wing before centering to present Lauren with an easy chance to score again.

Moley was taken off and replaced by Demi at the same time as Alnwick were also changing their goalkeeper. At this point Alnwick had not been into our half and Ellie got her first kick of the ball as they ventured forward. Ellie's pass found Mazie who won yet another corner, the kick from which was headed just wide by Erin.

The fifth goal was scored by Mazie after a period where the ball was being ping ponged between defenders who were unable to clear. Number six was almost walked into the net by Lauren after a good pass from George, and after completing her hat trick, she was substituted to allow Moley to take over at centre forward. Wildcats continued to press forward and yet another defensive error allowed Mazie to score again.

Bella was brought back on in place of Erin and almost immediately scored the eighth goal following a good move started at the back (well half way was as far back as we needed to be!) by Caz then to Alice who released Bella  to score before being dropped back to left back to allow George to go on the left wing. This pattern was to become part of the game as Alice scored number nine before being dropped back to sweeper to allow Ellie forward and before the half time whistle blew, Moley won a loose ball in front of goal and scored number ten.

The second half started as the first had ended and the goals kept coming with number eleven being claimed by Amy (it must be noted that between goals eleven and twelve, the Wildcats goalkeeper managed to touch the ball for the first time in the game!!) and number twelve by Demi who also notched up the next goal to complete her hat trick.

It was now the turn of the Wildcats defenders to get on the score line as first Ellie and then George and then Caz took the tally to sixteen. At this point in the game everyone but Erin had scored and the Wildcats were determined to get her onto the score sheet and after narrowly missing or being held up by defenders, Erin the hit the post but the ball rebounded to Demi who got the ball back to her to score and get all eleven girls' names with goals against them.

Moley scored again and was then taken off but not replaced and with Monty's agreement Alnwick were able to bring on all of their players so that they then had three players more than the Wildcats on the field. We were also in need of goal line technology as the ball appeared to be well over the Alnwick line, but the referee must have had his view blocked and waived play on.

There was a further flurry late in the game when Bella scored twice, and an Alnwick defender managed to put the ball past her 'keeper from a goal kick. The final score also came from an Alnwick goal kick, but this time it fell into the path of Erin who scored the twenty second and final goal of the game.

It must be pointed out that at the end of the game there was no gloating on the part of the Wildcats and the Alnwick players all took the defeat well which says a lot about the way girls football is played in this league. We have no game next week and meet again in two weeks time for a first round cup game at home….......................against Alnwick!!

This was an easy game, as the score suggests, but it was good to see the respect which our girls showed their opponents and the way we did not try to showboat during the game. Alnwick showed a lot of spirit and kept trying right to the end of the game and they deserve to be congratulated for that.

As far as the Wildcats were concerned, there will not be many easier games as we progress through the season and it was good to see our girls working for one another to ensure that everyone got their goal. We have now played the top two teams and the bottom three and lie second in the league table; it will be interesting to see how we perform against the 'middle rank' of teams which we would expect to be around us towards the end of the season, and we might then have some idea how well we will do in this league.

Enjoy your week off and we will all meet again in two weeks time for another Wildcats Saturday (all except me who will be in Corfu catching a few rays)

 The current league table is as follows :-