Hitchin Town Belles Under 12

Match Report 2006-2007

Under 12 Team Photo Sunday 5^th November 2006

Sunday, 5 November 2006

Barnet Azzuri U12 1 v 2 Hitchin Town Belles U12

Home Counties Girls Football League; U12 Division 2

Players: Beth, Amy, Christie (Captain), Ruby, Maddy, Carmen, Tamsin, Sophie, Chloe, Helen, Casey.

Another Sunday morning trip down the A1 - Barnet our destination this time, to play the Barnet Azurri in our second meeting of the season.

From the start of the match Hitchin looked the stronger team, with plenty of early pressure on the Barnet goal. Amy was making the most of her defensive clearances, and Helen found some useful chances to apply pressure running up the right wing. Despite all this good work it was Barnet who had the first real chance, hitting the post after 15 minutes or so of the half. This spurred the Belles into even greater efforts, and almost straight away Tamsin had a clear chance on goal after intercepting the Barnet goalie's kick - but the shot span away towards the corner, and despite Helen sprinting to keep the ball in play and the attack alive nothing came of it. Shortly after this Tamsin had to leave the pitch feeling very unwell and unable to move with her normal freedom. Hitchin pushed Beth up front on her own, with Helen, Carmen, Sophie and Casey playing behind to feed the ball to her, and Maddy, Chloe, Ruby and Amy making up the defence. The pressure from Hitchin continued, with Casey making her presence felt on the left and Maddy doing sterling work taking the majority of throw-ins, including one which so nearly set Casey up with a close-range chance on the Barnet goal - an extra yard of pace and we would surely have scored. With half time looming Hitchin desparately tried to score the goal that their performance deserved; the last chance of the half coming to Carmen with a superb attacking run from within her own half, beating most of the Barnet team, and almost dribbling the ball into the Barnet goal, but even with Beth closing on the ball right on the Barnet goal-line the Belles couldn't force it in, and the half ended scoreless.


Helen attacks

After a rest and half-time morale-boosting talk Tamsin came back on for the second half, but her movement was restricted and Hitchin adapted by leaving Beth up front as sole out-and-out attacker, and packing the midfield with 5 players. After just 5 minutes the Belles came very close to taking the lead, with a long ball over the top from Carmen converting a throw in our own half into a real attacking chance;- Helen raced after the ball and took a good shot from inside the penalty area, but the Barnet goalie managed to get in the way of that, and Tamsin following in to try to convert the loose ball couldn't get the ball in the net. Minutes later the Belles finally got the goal they had been promising for so long - this time Carmen chasing the long ball forward and converting with a shot that the goalie could not get to. Now it felt as though Hitchin had the measure of the game - surely they would go on to win fairly comfortably. Football is not like that! Despite a period of almost continuous pressure from Hitchin, the next significant moment in the match came in the Hitchin penalty area, with a ball crossed in unluckily striking Carmen on the arms - the referee awarded a penalty and despite making a great attempt, and getting a hand on the ball, Christie could not stop the shot and the match was all level with around 15 minutes to play.

Hitchin were now really fired up - a succession of close chances falling to Beth, Tamsin and Sophie among others. The minutes were ticking by, and still the Belles could not convert their pressure into a goal - some tough decisions seemed to be going against Hitchin, with a sudden outbreak of calls for handball and offside. Still the Belles fought on, and with less than 5 minutes to play Tamsin again showed what a deadly attacking player she is, pouncing on a ball in the Barnet penalty area, turning onto it before anyone could challenge her and striking the ball firmly into the net. The Hitchin girls were delighted, and only had to hold onto their lead for a few more minutes before the final whistle. This was a well-deserved win, but in the end one which was far from comfortable. Much credit to the Barnet team who played well and defended particularly efficiently - we look forward to more fixtures against the Azurri later in the season.

This win puts the Belles second in the league, trailing only to Stevenage Borough Juniors - a team they have beaten once already! Let's hope the whole team can keep this phenomenal level of performance going.

Player of the match: Christie - handled everything which came her way, and so nearly stopped the penalty as well.

Report by John Davey.