2-2 vs Wargrave Lions

Wargrave are second in the league – two places above us and a very strong team. They came out determined to win and attacked from the start. The pressure was soaked up my a solid Maidenhead defence from Charlotte, Sophie, Lucy and Alex (with great backup from Amelie as normal).

We managed to get forward a bit and almost took the lead with a few attempts on goal including a great shot from Lucy with the rebound just headed over the bar by Maddie. Pressure from a determined and well drilled Wargrave eventually led to two goals though – nothing the Maidenhead goalie could do to save those.

The second half started with more control from Maidenhead. A great team attack linking half the team led to the first goal for Maidenhead. Then Lizzy took a corner and with maybe the slightest of delflections from Sophie it sneaked into the Wagrave net. Soon after, a free kick from just out side our area was brilliantly taken by Wargrave, but equally well saved by Maidenhead goalie. From then on it was a tense game with both teams almost scoring and the cross bar hit at both ends. A final save from the Maidenhead goalie and the game ended a draw.

The Maidenhead team played brilliantly against a very strong team. It took great team work and committment from all the girls to come back from 2-0 down.

Thanks as ever to the parents for supporting, Vinnie for coaching and Steve Croxford for running the line.

What a start! Maidenhead U12 Girls vs Laurel Park

Maidenhead U12 girls started the 2019/2020 season with weather fit for a summer tounament rather than the first game of the season.

Maidenhead quickly took control with Ellie assisting Maddie to the first goal in around five minutes. Soon Maddie laid the ball back to Charlotte to score the second from the edge of the penalty area. By the end of the half Maddie had three more with assists from Lucy and Amelie.

Laurel Park didn’t let their heads go down and the defence had to stay alert, but the few times they got past, Miah, Lucy and Grace in the back row, Sophie in goal had it under control.

In the second half Maddie dropped back in to defence, but the attacks continued with two goals from Amelie, another from Charlotte and one each for Lucy and Grace.

The game finished 10-0 to Maidenhead with tired girls on both sides. The longer match after the summer break in heat and with hard ground was hard work! It was the first match with the off-side rule applied as well, so the girls had plenty to think about.

Laurel Park had a tough day and the score didn’t reflect the effort they put in and the skill they showed. They were still fighting to the end – missing the Maidenhead goal by inches with a great shot just before the final whistle blew.

Thanks Vinnie for great coaching that showed in the girl’s play and the girls from both team for putting in so much effort!

Today was an end of season cup match and another windy day with gales blowing down the length of the pitch.

Laurel Park came out strong and the game started evenly, but Maidenhead had the wind behind them and the slope in our favour. After ten mins a shot from Lizzie was blocked, but she followed up brilliantly to score. Soon after Sophie intercepted a goal kick and scored with a strong shot.

Second half Laurel Park were in charge with the wind and slope behind them. The Maidenhead girls put up a great defence though and our goalie was brilliant, so Laurel Park struggled to finish off. Some great runs from Sophie, Charlotte, Lucy and others gave a chance of a third, but the game ended 2-0 to Maidenhead.

Thanks to Laurel Park for such a good game in very difficult conditions and Vinny for the great coaching and encouragement.

Players:
Lucy
Millie Catlin
Deetya
Grace
Elsie
Siena

The girls played 4 games at the group stage but unfortunately didn’t make the semi-finals. During the group games they were able to score goals with 1 from Millie and 1 from Lucy. They then played the runners up from the Group B (Tilehurst Panthers?) which finished with 1-1 draw.

Considering these girls have never played together, several are U10’s and some had never played Futsal before, they played really well and should all be very proud. Grace was a star in goal with so many saves and Siena played through a nasty injury to her knee.

The U11s managed to run two teams in the Berkshire Football tournament. The morning team was made up by Millie, Sophie, Anna, Charlotte, Ellie and Amelie. Thanks alot to Vinny for coaching the team and the organisers for giving the girls such a great tournament!

Laurel Park 2-0
The girls started with a great game against Laurel Park. A corner from Sophie allowed Charlotte to score the first and the second soon followed with a great run and shot from Sophie. Laurel Park almost got one back, but it was kept out with an amazing save from Amelie.

Burnham Juniors 2-0
Maidenhead soon took control with Sophie scoring from a solid cross with a helpful deflection off the goalie. Ellie soon almost added another with a brilliant shot above the goalie – unfortunately disallowed as they hadn’t retreated far enough from the earlier goal kick. An excellent run and shot from Sophie brought a second. Anna and Millie both had a great game with some great skills  in defence.

Wargrave 3-0
Sophie scored in the first minute to take the pressure off and finished the game with a hat trick! Another great shot from Ellie off the cross bar – she was getting so close to a goal! Charlotte took over in goal and kept the clean sheet.

Thatcham 1-4
A much harder game with Thatcham’s strikers passing brilliantly to get three very quickly. It was more even in the second half. Charlotte got one back with a well worked kick in from Sophie, but Thatcham followed up with a fourth.

Tilehurst 5-0
After the loss to Thatcham the girls were fired up and all played amazingly with goals galore. Sophie 1, Amelie 2, Ellie 1, Charlotte 1 with great support from Milie in midefield. It wasn’t all Maidenhead though – Anna had to make some great saves in goal.

Quarters Finals – Wokingham – 1-0
A much tighter game, but constant pressure from Maidenhead forced a 1-0 win with the goal from Sophie from a chip over the defence from Charlotte.

Semi Finals – Laurel Park – 1-1 and out on penalties
Another tight game with Laurel Park putting up a strong defence and making us work at the other end. Amelie managed to get a goal from a kick in from Sophie, but then Laurel Park attacked again. Anna had to clear from the line once, but It couldn’t be kept out a second time.
On to penalties and our luck came to an end. Great effort from the girls to get that far against some really good teams

The home match today was a great contest between Maidenhead girls and Thatcham & Newbury with some really good play from both teams.

The whole team had to pull together in the face of determined attacks from Thatcham & Newbury, but they never let their heads drop and continued to attack when they could. The efforts were rewarded by a great goal from Lizzy, but there wasn’t one player who didn’t play well and contribute to the team.

Thanks to all the players, supporters, the coaches, the bacon butty providers, Steve Croxford who refed the game and Thatcham & Newbury girls for playing so well and with such a good attitude.

We forgot the team photo at the end as everyone scurried away to get dry!

The U11 girls have staretd there season with the first away game at Burnham Juniors. It was a great game with plenty of action and good skills from both teams.

All the girls did well with goals from Sophie and Iris. Charlotte was given player of the match for her commitment and solid defence. Well done to Grace who played brilliantly in her first game for the team!

Thanks to Laura who has taken on the team as coach. The girls love her enthusiasm and knowledge.

Also, thanks to Burnham Juniors for a great start to the season at a beautiful venue (and for the bacon butties).

Winners!

A Maidenhead Girls U11s team consisting of 3 U10s and 5 U11s won the Tilehurst U11s Girls tournament in style on Sun 10 June. 20 teams entered the tournament including 3 Tilehurst U11 girls teams…

Players were: U10s Maddie Sturt, Sophie McMaster, and Millie Cleary. U11s were Jess Buckley, Lily Gibson, Amelie Checkley, Grace Gibson and Emily McMaster.

The team were unbeaten through 11 matches in total including 9 group games playing teams including Laurel Park, Kew Park, Ashton, Thatcham and Newbury and Wokingham. They managed to win three games 5-0 within the 7 minute matches….Maidenhead beat Wargrave 2-0 in the semi final and won the final 1-0 against a strong Tilehurst team with a cracking solo goal from Maddie Sturt.

It was a remarkable achievement as some of the girls hadn’t played in many tournaments before and for some of them they were team mates for the first time.

Overall the team scored 28 goals and conceded just 2 through brilliant goalkeeping and great defence rotating – our defence was rock solid! Top scorer was Emily McMaster with 13, followed closely by Maddie Sturt with 10 and Lily Gibson with 5. Well done to all the girls and supporting parents. Next Tournament up is Maidenhead…..

Footy fun!

SUNDAY 20MAY – THATCHAM TOURNAMENT AT NEWBURY RUGBY CLUB

Maidenhead Boys & Girls FC had the following girls teams playing at this Girls Only Tournament:

U15 Girls – AM

We only had 5 girls for this 6aside tournament and despite asking the other teams at the Managers’ Meeting to go down to 5 players against us only 1 of the teams did.  Real shame and not typical of the other age groups at the Tournament at all.

The team was:  Lauren Moriarty, Jess Southby, Aya Ounzi, Ariela Veizaj and Izzy Copper and the Manager was Laura Palfrey

U14 Girls  – AM

Team was:

• U14s:  Priya Handa, Amelia Gilbert, Olivia Brienza, Maizy Scott
• U13s:  Gemma and Emily Harvey

U12 Girls – AM

Team was:

• U12s:  Emily “Oonagh” McCartney, Rebecca Hesketh, Nerys Gibson
• U11s:  Matilda Walker, Lily May Shepherd, Georgina Evans and Amelie Checkley (these U11s played again in the U11 Tournament in the afternoon)

The team played well, but didn’t make it through to the knockout games.

• Won 1 game v Thatcham Town – cracking shot from Rebecca Hesketh
• Drew 2 games 0-0
• Lost 2 games 0-1

U11 Girls – PM

Team was:

• U11s:  Matilda Walker, Lily May Shepherd, Georgina Evans, Amelie Checkley, Lily and Grace Gibson, Laura McAllister

W1, D2, L3 – 2 goals to Lily May Shepherd and 2 clean sheets for Matilda Walker

U10 Girls – PM

Team was:

• U10s:  Lizzy Ainscough, Amy Martin, Ellie Godleman, Charlotte Hesketh
• U09s:  Iris Gannon, Olivia Lacey

Charlotte’s older sister Rebecca who had played in the morning but being U12 couldn’t play in the afternoon with the U11 team, stepped up to be the Manager of the U10 Girls (under my supervision!) and did a great job as the U10 team won their group with 11 points for 3 wins and 2 draws.

• Game 1 – Drew 0-0
• Game 2 – Won 1-0 v Tilehurst Panthers – goal by Lizzy Ainscough
• Game 3 – Won 2-0 v Oakley Unicorns – goals from Amy Martin and Ellie Godleman
• Game 4 – Drew 0-0 v Winchester City Flyers

Everyone got awarded a Win against the team that didn’t turn up

They then met AFC Reading in the Quarter Final and after drawing 0-0 it went to penalties and Maidenhead only got knocked out on the 6th round of penalties.  AFC Reading went on to win the competition.

U09 Girls – AM

Team was just 2 girls!!:  Iris Gannon and Luisa McAllister

Having warned the organizers the day before that we only had 2 girls to bring, they encouraged us to come anyway and appealed to the other managers to lend us players which they did.

Our girls had a great time and we got to meet several players from these other teams:  Thatcham Town, Thatcham Tornadoes and Winchester – who all lent us players throughout the tournament.

All the girls participating got medals at the ceremony later and when it was Maidenhead’s turn we invited all the girls who had played for us to stand on the podium with our 2 girls which filled the podium up!

Maidenhead pulled together a U11 girls team to play at Sandhurst Summer Tournament. The team was a mixture of girls from the U10 team playing up and some of the U11 girls who normally play up in the U12 team.

The team took a while to get warmed up and lost the first two games 1-0 to Rushmoor and 3-0 to Tilehurst Panthers. There was some great play though with saves from Charlotte and some great runs from Georgina.

Maidenhead managed to get in to the swing and got a draw against Thatcham Town Blues and a win against Tilehurst Panther Belles with the goal from Charlotte. This gave us a respectable 4 points; not enough to make it into the finals, but the girls had the opportunity for a game in the playoffs against Wokingham and Emmbrook.

The final match was a tense game, with great play from all the girls forcing a 1-1 draw and leading to sudden death penalties. A good save from the Wokingham and Emmbrook goalie on the first penalty meant the Maidenhead goalie had a difficult job. She stood her ground brilliantly, but a great shot put us out.

A brilliant day and given the girls weren’t used to playing together and had no subs they did brilliantly.