Borehamwood Youth Girls v Bury Rangers Girls (2-11) - U10 County Cup – 08/01/2012

Squad: Abby Tallentire, Piper Wright (GK 1^st Half), Darcy Culverhouse, Libby Norman, Grace Garrad, Izzy Alder, Lois Ruane, Madeline Vincent (GK 2^nd half), Lillie Southwell (debut).

After the Christmas and New Year break a Herts GFP County Cup match provided a welcome return to getting up early at the weekends to drive great distances for the sake of our girls.  All seemed set for a good match against a team that we’d not played before, however Borehamwood only had 6 players and Bury had already poached the top goal and were kicking down a 1:10 slope with an extra player in the first half. This was the ideal game for the long awaited debut of Lillie Southwell who’d been training with Bury for some time.

First Half. It was Libby Norman who had the first shot of the year which went just wide.  Even though depleted in numbers and kicking uphill Borehamwood got off to a good start, pressing the Bury goal.  Abby Tallentire put in two fine tackles in as many minutes to deny them a goal scoring opportunity.  The second of these tackles ended up with the ball in 1^st half keeper Piper Wright’s hands.  Piper launched a goal kick that Grace Garrad anticipated would elude the Borehamwood defence and was left one on one with their keeper. Grace calmly lifted the ball over the keepers head into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 to Bury.  Player of the match Darcy Culverhouse inspired the rest of her team to great heights with an excellent performance at the back throughout the match and was the architect of Bury’s 2^nd.  After robbing the Borehamwood striker Darcy began a passing move involving Libby Norman and Madeline Vincent which saw Madeline’s shot well saved, Grace Garrad kept the ball alive and crossed back into the box for Libby to score and make it 2-0 to Bury.  Then came three quick goals which killed the game off and ensured Bury would progress into the next round.  Grace Garrad bagged the third and fourth to complete a first half hat-trick and Lois Ruane cracked the ball home from just inside the penalty box to make it 5-0.  Borehamwood to their credit didn’t give up the fight and still posed problems for Bury.  Lillie Southwell and Izzy Alder were buzzing in midfield supporting both defence and attack.  Darcy and Abby both had work to do as half time approached with the former showing everyone that the art of putting in a crunching tackle must run in the family and the latter dispossessing opponents, drifting forward and passing the ball with intelligence (which doesn’t run in the family).  To cap off a fine 1^st half display, Grace Garrad skipped past 3 Borehamwood players and slotted home after her first attempt was well saved to make it 6-0 to Bury at half time.

Second Half.  With the tie effectively won, Le boss decided to even things up in the second half, kicking uphill and playing with six players as well.  Izzy Alder went close when one-on-one with the keeper, second half goalie Madeline Vincent made a couple of crucial saves and Abby Tallentire now playing up front had a shot blocked on the line.  The resulting breakaway gave Borehamwood a sniff as they pulled one back to make it 6-1, but the six goal cushion was quickly restored when Abby Tallentire intercepted a goal kick, bore down on goal sidestepped the keeper and slotted into the empty net to make it 7-1. It was 8-1 in no time at all courtesy of Grace’s sweet left foot.  Chances for Darcy, Piper, Abby, Libby and Grace were well created and the girls showed their passing game hadn’t been forgotten.  Libby Norman was the beneficiary of two delightful pieces of interplay between Grace and Lois.  She bagged her second and Bury’s 9^th  after Lois went on a great run down the left wing beating two defenders, passing the ball to Grace who in turn laid it on for Libby to score.  Libby’s hat-trick was completed after a near action replay of Bury’s last goal saw her sweep in from close range.  Splitting Libby’s 2^nd and 3^rd goals was Borehamwood’s second.  The final act was administered by Lois who beat 3 players and stroked the ball home to make the final score 11-2 to Bury.