The Divas faced a Mile Oak side who were making their first trip to Fernhurst.
The girls were down to the bare bones with regular goalkeeper Holly unavailable and they were also without leading goal scorer Aimee Mack, Melody, Shona, and Lilly. With just ten players, the game saw Annie come in to make her debut off the bench and Niamh back in goal for just the second ever time. It was a blustery and bitterly cold afternoon, and the girls were slow coming out of the traps and quickly found themselves several goals behind. It took some time for the girls to find their shape and get to grips again with holding their line for offsides. A few more goals went in before half-time when it was effectively game over in terms of the result.
However, one thing the girls have in abundance is team spirit and togetherness. They rallied in the second half against what was a very physical side, and could have had a goal of their own from Lexi if it wasn’t for a rather questionable offside decision. Just a couple of further goals went in during the second half, and the fact we had to keep reminding Niamh in goal to keep warm goes to show what areas of the pitch the game was largely played in during the final 20-25mins. You could hear the girls encouraging each other on the pitch, despite the score. That was fantastic to hear. I’m confident that if the girls pick up from where they finished the game then the results will come. They just need to switch on from the start and remember the basics.
A special shout out to Annie for making what was a strong debut and again to Niamh for doing such a great job in goal again. Another shout out to Khloee who won Diva of the Match and seemed back to her best and playing without fear.
We next host the very endearing Ashington team and their coaches at Fernhurst in a cup game on Sunday 12th December