U13 GIRLS FOOTBALL – SQUAD GAINS RESULTS – AND EXPERIENCE.
U13 girls’ football is going from strength to strength at Richmond School at the moment. Manager and coach of the squad, Mr. Beresford, provides detailed analysis of some of their recent matches:
Richmond School U13 girls (Years 7 and 8) played against Thirsk School earlier on in September in the first round of the ESFA cup, a competition entered by every school in the country. With a mixed team from both year groups, everyone showed fantastic teamwork, really earning the final result. A quick start from Richmond saw us go in front within the first two minutes with a great bit of team play through the middle of the pitch – Liv Rogerson linking with Pippa Maclelland who scored emphatically past the Thirsk goalkeeper. Freya Atkinson dominated down the left wing, creating numerous chances for others to score goals, including Charlee Stead and Maddy Leighton from Year 7. Phoebe Willis caused just as many problems down the right-hand side of the pitch, controlling the ball nicely and linking with the two in midfield to get the ball moving forwards. The girls in defence, Ellie Buchanan, Chloe Hollins, Orla Noone, Eleanor Dinsdale and Charlotte Dobinson (who played in goal) did very well at limiting Thirsk’s chances at scoring, only conceding one goal in the first half.
At half time the score was 9-1 in Richmond’s favour and substitutions were made in order to ensure all the girls got an even amount of game time: Brooke Longden, Olivia MacMaster and Amber Williams all came on. A shuffle round in positions gave the girls opportunity to play freely and create more chances. Pippa scored a wonderful goal, striking the ball from just inside the opposition half!
The game finished 13-3 – a fantastic result for the girls, especially in their first game together. Notable performance goes to Orla Noone, Year 7, who played with unrivalled confidence against girls in the year above. Her ability to read the game and put a strong tackle in meant she was very difficult to beat.
A few weeks later the girls where in action again in the ESFA cup second round playing away to Manor Community College in Hartlepool. Despite playing with a brilliant intensity the girls were just edged out by a last-minute goal.
The game started out fiercely contested with very little separating the two sides. Richmond School had a couple of chances to break the deadlock from our forward line of Freya Atkinson, Charlee Stead and Phoebe Willis, but some resolute goalkeeping from the Manor goalkeeper kept the score level at 0-0. The game turned on its head as Manor scored three goals in quick succession, however a brilliant 25-yard effort from Pippa Maclelland bounced in off the crossbar reducing the deficit to 3-1 going into half time.
The girls began the second half with fire under their feet and shut out Manor from getting any chances with the majority of the second half being played in Manor’s territory. The pressure paid off as Pippa scored two more brilliant goals, dribbling through Manor’s defences and slotting home. The game was poised at 3-3 heading towards penalties but both teams were still determined to get a winner.
Richmond School continued to press forward, however this left space in behind for Manor to attack on the counter. The last few minutes were back and forth: Richmond had their chances and so did Manor. If it weren’t for the woodwork Manor could have easily had five more goals. It was the counter attacks from Manor that proved too effective for Richmond’s defence, scoring in the last two minutes of the game to win 4-3. A tough loss to take for the girls as they had played with such determination to come back from 3-0 down, to then lose in the final minutes. Some stand out performances from Charlotte Dobinson and Daisy Richardson who not only played outfield but also did a half each in goal, doing their best in a position that they don’t normally play. Pippa was the player of the match, scoring three goals and doing a fantastic job at linking the play from the centre of midfield. It was also the first game for Florie Brown who did a very good job alongside Pippa in the midfield.
The girls’ fortunes turned when a week later they played Outwood Academy Ripon in the County Cup. Determined to bounce back from their ESFA cup exit a week earlier, Richmond School won 6-2 with a fantastic performance. The game started evenly, with Richmond attacking the Ripon goal and Ripon coming back on the counter. Being caught on the counter-attack again wasn’t in the girls’ plan and some resolute defending from Daisy, Annie, Orla and Eleanor stopped any momentum Ripon had. The deadlock was broken when Freya Atkinson put in a brilliant corner towards Pippa who volleyed home from close range. The corner routine worked perfectly twice more in a row, making the score 3-0. Before the half time break, Ripon managed to get a goal back, making it 3-1 at half time.
Going into the second half, Richmond continued to press for more goals. Annie Holliday got on the score sheet after a brilliant run forward, going past two defenders before slotting home. There was a debut goal for Millie Mckinley who scored a brilliant strike after only just coming onto the pitch from the bench. The sixth and final goal was scored by Freya Atkinson, a fantastically struck freekick from 25 yards which flew into the top right corner of the goal. With a fantastic 3 assists and a goal, player of the match went to Freya Atkinson.
Most recently, the U13 girls played in a friendly against local school St Francis Xavier. 22 Richmond girls turned up to play – a mixture of Year 7 and 8 students with varying levels of experience, from girls who play week in week out for school and club to girls who had never played in a game before. To have two full squads for girls’ football across Y7 and Y8 is absolutely brilliant and despite the game ending in a 3-0 loss, all the girls played with fantastic determination.
Since the start of the year, girls’ football in Years 7 and 8 has progressed in leaps and bounds. In the first training session back in September only 5 girls turned up, so to now have 22 playing in a game with another 10 unavailable shows fantastic progress and a real reflection of all the work that is being done for girls’ football at Richmond School.
The U13 girls are due to play against SFX once again very soon in the Area Cup. This will be a game that will certainly draw some attention, considering the result of the recent friendly. Watch this space for that result, as well as another County Cup fixture waiting to be played.
Richmond School U13 Girls vs Outwood Academy Ripon – red shirts:
Top Row from left to right: Olivia MacMaster, Florie Brown, Freya Atkinson, Millie Mckinley, Eleanor Dinsdale, Daisy Richardson, Phoebe Willis, Ellie Buchanan.
Bottom Row from left to right: Orla Noone, Connie Wilford, Pippa Maclelland, Pippa Gibbon, Annie Holliday, Maddy Leighton, Charlee Stead.
Richmond School U13 Girls vs SFX – red / stripy shirts:
From left to right: Phoebe Willis, Izzy Taylor, Imogen Landray, Ellie Buchanan, Orla Noone, Maddy Leighton, Charlee Stead, Annie Holliday, Florie Brown, Eleanor Dinsdale, Ruby Norton, Pippa Gibbon, Mathilda Townend, Freya Atkinson, Lucie Charlton, Etta Stevenson, Ellie Teague, Daisy Richardson, Brooke Longden, Connie Wilford, Aisha Ali.