|
A first half goal-burst
by the Under-11s made QPR's task in getting into the match almost
impossible and took the League Cup to complete their Double.
It was a confident and
assured display by Kevin Fenn's girls, as they ran rampant in the first
half of the game. But it was QPR who had started well under the
baking sunshine. It took some confident handling of the ball by
Tottenham's player of the match - goalkeeper Nicola Davey - to keep
Rangers pacy forwards at bay in the early stages. Spurs' first
chance came in the third minute, when captain Zoë Jackson met a corner
on the volley and it missed the post by inches.
Three minutes later,
Spurs took the lead, when Aimee Rose ran the ball forward, passed to
strike partner Lindsey Cockle on the left and she played the ball into
the danger zone. With Aimee closing in, a Rangers defender tried
to clear, but Aimee got in the way and the ball ended up in the net off
her challenge to open the scoring.
In the ninth minute,
Tottenham doubled the lead, with Lindsey grabbing a typical Cockle
goal. Paige Barnard won the ball in midfield and the ball was
played forward to Lindsey, who took a stride forward and hit a low drive
that flew in off the inside of the goalpost. Within a minute,
Lindsey had almost grabbed another, when she managed to nip in to take a
back-pass to the keeper, but as she tried to round the keeper, it was
knocked away from her for a corner.
Spurs had gained the
upper hand with the two early goals and the Rangers side struggled to
find the passes that had almost opened up Tottenham in the opening
exchanges. With a quarter of an hour gone, Tessa Osborne picked
the ball up on the halfway line and dashed forward towards the right
wing. Her cross ball picked out Aimee and she struck a firm shot
past the keeper to make it 3-0 to Tottenham.
Spurs were constantly
pushing forward now and Lindsey poked a shot just wide in the 16th
minute, before the fourth goal arrived on 20 minutes. Aimee made a
run with the ball and passed it to Tayla Goodman on the right
wing. As the keeper closed on Tayla, she coolly played the ball
square for Aimee to score from in front of the goal. Two
minutes before half-time, Tottenham
could have gone further ahead, as Zoë hit a long cross from the right
wing that flew high over the keeper's jump and bounced back into play
off the goalpost. However, Nicola had to be alert to grab the ball
when a low cross from QPR's right wing was flicked on at the near post. Being
4-0 up at the break, it would have been easy for the Spurs girls to
think the game was already won, but the team talk from their manager
ensured they put in a disciplined performance in the second half. An
early chance in that period saw Lindsey take a chance by getting to a
high through ball and lobbing a shot narrowly over the top from 15 yards
out. As Rangers forced the pace of the game to try and make the
breakthrough that would have put them back in the game, Nicola held firm
with some good saves and the players who made up the defence, namely
Jodie Fenn, Belinda Sugarman, Paige Barnard, Olivia Rodney and Eleanda
Taladianou all put in sterling performances in keeping the QPR side out
of the penalty area for long periods of the match. Jodie nicked
the ball away from a Rangers forward just as she was about to shoot on
a couple of occasions, Eleanda put in an energetic display, while
Paige was rock solid, Belinda chased player down and Olivia blocked out
the right side of the Rangers side with some tough tackling. This
did not stop Tottenham going forward and the introduction of Laila El
Haddad opened a channel for the defence to pass to on the right.
Following a flowing move involving Laila and Aimee, the ball came to
Tessa in front of goal, but she was unable to keep her shot down and it
flew over the bar. The
sides were more evenly matched in the second half and the Rangers team
got their reward for some determined play, when they scored right at the
end of the match from close range. The
match was played in a very competitive spirit, but in a very sporting
manner and the Rangers girls were a credit to their club. As the
presentations were made, the girls who were on the losing side last
season were now stepping up to take the cup. It was the
culmination of a lot of hard work put in by Kevin Fenn, John Goodman and
the girls over the months since August and the League and Cup wins are
reward for the effort, team work and excellent play they have displayed
this season. And not forgetting the parents, who give up their
time to transport the players to matches and training and on this warm
spring day, turned up in their numbers to drown out the noise of the
planes taking off from Luton airport with their support for the girls. Congratulations
to them all !! |
