Bristol Ladies Union U11 vs Downend Flyers U11

On Sunday the 12th of December, BLU U11 played home at Canford Park against Downend Flyers. There was a welcome change in temperature compared with the freezing conditions last week.

BLU got off to a good start with Jess having a skilful run and forcing a great save from the Flyer’s keeper. BLU piled on the pressure, resulting in a number of goal mouth scrambles with Evie and Pippa in the thick of the action and somehow, the Flyers kept the ball out of the net. The pressure eventually payed off with Kate breaking the deadlock and her goal celebration was almost as good as the goal itself. Kate rapidly added a second goal following intricate build up play involving most of the team. She then wrapped up her hattrick following an outstanding individual effort.

The Flyers pulled a goal back following a powerful shot from their centre forward and another following a defensive mix up. Their centre forward added to her tally as the BLU defence was unlocked by a long through ball with Maeve unable to save us again.

At the end of the first half, BLU were under the cosh. It required, skilful teamwork and real effort to prevent the Flyers going in with a half time lead.

Andy’s inspiring team talk had an immediate effect on our players. BLU started the second half as brightly as the first. Another powerful run by Jess resulted in a cross that Kate just failed to connect. Kate swiftly added a 4th goal with a good individual dribble and shot.

The Flyers were not out of it and forced good saves from Besty and a well-timed block from Lamorna when the Flyers looked certain to score.

BLU added another after a good move down our right wing and cross for Jess to tap in. Knee slider celebrations all round!

The Flyers finished the second half like the first, testing the BLU defence requiring excellent interventions from Emily, Pippa and Katherine. Despite our efforts we couldn’t close the game down and conceded two further goals in the dying minutes, meaning that the match ended in a thrilling draw.   

Match report written by Katherine from BLU U11

Longwell Green U11 vs Bristol Ladies Union U11

On Sunday 5 December, the BLU U11 squad travelled to Longwell Green. Under a grey sky, on a freezing day, both coaches and players had to keep moving to stay warm.

As the match kicked off, our forwards, Jess and Evie, pressed vigorously, creating a few early chances. Soon, Evie had put us in front with our first goal. At the other end of the pitch, Kate and Katherine in defence were putting in some stunning tackles against a physical opposition. We were playing confidently and passing accurately – our training the Wednesday before had really paid off.

The opposition’s defence was hard to dribble past, but soon, we’d hit the back of the net twice more, thanks to Jess and Evie. In the dying moments of the first half, Lamorna took our corner and crossed the ball expertly to Jess, who fired it at the keeper. She made a fantastic save, but the rebound fell straight to Betsy, who smashed it in on the half-volley. Lamorna quickly added another just before the half time whistle to make it a perfect first half.

After an inspiring half-time team talk, we were keen to get back into it. Longwell Green came back fighting, though, and had several excellent chances. Luckily, with some super saves from Betsy, we kept them out. Iris created some superb chances in the heart of midfield, while defenders Evie and Maeve did their bit with goal-stopping tackles. Then Jess scored another, but things were looking bad for us when the opposition won a corner. They crossed the ball to the edge of the penalty area, where Katherine deftly blocked the shot. The rebound fell to Longwell Green, but Kate clawed the ball off the line and swiftly scooped it up. We passed the ball up the pitch to Jess, who slotted it home for our final goal, and her hat-trick!

Altogether, we felt like this was our best match of the season so far – thank you, coaches, and also Longwell Green for being amazing opponents!

Match report written by Kate from the BLU U11 team

Bristol Ladies Union U11 vs Nailsea U11

On Sunday the 21st November the U11 girls played against Nailsea at Canford Park in a very close game with some fantastic goals from Kate, Mairead (it was her first goal for the team) and Iris as well as very good goals from Nailsea. There were  lots of great tackles and clearances from Pippa, Emilie supported by Alice and Iris in defence which means that in the second half we were better at marking therefore it was easier for us to attack. There was some great goalkeeping from Maeve as well as some great midfielding from Lily and Astrid and attacking from Lamorna who created loads of space and lovely passing.  We passed the ball well due to our good communication and our good positioning on the pitch. We had so many attempts at scoring goals but Nailsea had a very good and experienced goalie who saved a lot of our shots. Overall it was a fantastic game which we were unlucky to narrowly lose. We never gave up and always pushed ourselves to catch up on the score. A huge thank you to all the cheering from the subs (who did well to keep warm as it was very cold), spectators and our amazing coaches for encouraging us.

Match report written by Emilie from the U11 team