York’s Ladies Make Solid Start

Written by Serena Franklin

Due to the recent weather the Women's 1sts had had limited training time, and with the decision to play only made 2 hours before the start, had very little preparation. Having beaten Leeds Met last term in the league York were confident of their chances but whether the team could show the form and skill that led to only one defeat last term, and no goals conceded was about to be tested on 22 acres.

York started strongly with the attack working well as a unit, feeding off each other and spreading the Leeds Met defence. This was helped by the fact that Leeds came one player short, with the defensive midfielders, particularly Izzy Miller and Vicky Eagles, making well timed cuts that Leeds did not pick up. The work of the midfielders was particularly impressive off the centre draw with York constantly outnumbering their counterparts on every ground ball.

While York were impressive in the first quarter, the level of play dipped as the game continued, with dangerous tackles and swipes starting to make appearances. York’s lack of team and match practice showed as a lack of communication led to the first Leeds goal, and had they more composure in front of goal the opposition could have got themselves back in the match. Despite this York pressed home their numerical advantage by double teaming well, with Rebecca Chalk playing as a drifting defence on the fan picking up any unmarked attacker.

With York having to play more defence than they would have liked, the offence were having to make the most of their chances, particularly as the Leeds Met goalkeeper played for the Northern Universities. Despite this York should have found themselves with a more comfortable lead, but were making life hard by rushing the settled attack, allowing the goalie to intercept their passes and often ending with weak, easily saved shots.

York’s defence may have been unorganised in transit, hence the second goal, but when it came to a settled situation the communication and man marking worked well to deny Leeds any clear shots, with Christiana Hambro having to make only a handful of saves throughout the entire game. In contrast Leeds' defence was unable to handle more than a couple of cutters before collapsing and allowing for open shots on goal, which Liz Chan and eventually Helen Streeter were able to take advantage of.

The final score was 14-2, and with it comes the progression to the second round, and a motivation to try and regain the tempo and team performances which were so impressive last term.

Team Sheet: Christiana Hambro, Rebecca Chalk, Serena Franklin, Izzy Miller, Susannah Davies, Vicky Eagles, Rose Morrison, Elsie Blackshaw, Kyra Linton, Liz Chan, Emily Lingard, Nicola Drury, Helen Streeter.

Player of the Match: Vicky Eagles.

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