U16 Girls win the Denham Tournament

Congratulations to the Under 16 Girls for winning the Denham Tournament!

The tournament attracts some great teams from Berkshire, Oxford and West London, so the girls had some solid competition. Everyone played really well and showed great commitment on a hot day.

A great warm up for the 2021/2022 season.

Maidenhead U14 Girls won 2 semi finals over successive weekends in March to progress to the U14 Girls Berks & Bucks FA Cup final AND the U14 Girls Berkshire County Girls Football League Cup Final.

Sat 14th March –

Maidenhead U14 Girls went through to the final of the Berkshire County Girls Football League Cup after beating rivals Tilehurst Panthers with a two nil win. Big credit to Kate Lee in goal and all the defence for keeping a clean sheet.
With a significant improvement on the previous weeks performance there were a large number of very close attempts on goal – thankfully two of which found the back of the net courtesy of Becky Tinnelly and Emily McMaster earning the u14s a well earned place in the cup final.

Sat 7th March – Berks & Bucks FA County Cup

Maidenhead U14 Girls won a penalty shootout (Emily McMaster saving 3 pens) after they’d somehow squandered a 2-0 lead to finish the game 3-3! Rebecca Hesketh scored 2 cracking goals in a new position playing up front and Becky Tinnelly scored the other.

If this wasn’t impressive enough they also sit at the top of the league still, 2 points clear with a game in hand. The girls are breaking new ground and making history for the club as they remain firmly at the top of the league and have now confidently won their place in both the Berkshire And Bucks and Berks cup finals.

A truly outstanding achievement that has not only impressed and thrilled the coaching team and parents alike but also caught the attention of many visiting teams and managers.

STOP PRESS 16 March 2020: It appears that all grassroots football MAY now be suspended 🙁

It may well be the end of the season. It’s been magnificent and the U14 girls have played brilliantly – roll on next season! 🙂

Maidenhead U14 Girls moved 6 points clear at the top of Division 1 of the Berks County Girls Football League with a 3-1 win over Laurel Park.

Coach Andy declared that he hadn’t seen better match play this season from the girls. “They have successfully translated their Friday night training to the pitch. Quite simply their mental approach has shifted up a gear. They believed they would win the game comfortably, they controlled the ball well, they passed superbly maintaining possession throughout and were rarely troubled at the back”. The coaching team were proud of every players performance today – so for a change, no individuals are being called out in this match report.

Had the superb Laurel Park keeper not saved so many goals it would have been a very different scoreline.

With just 5 league games and 2 cup semi finals (Berks League and Berks & Bucks FA cups) to go this season Maidenhead U14 Girls have really started fulfilling their potential as a squad.

They are also getting even better at match day celebration photos….

Maidenhead under 14 girls once again achieved another convincing victory against Ascot Emeralds on a very windy Saturday morning this weekend. Keeping them at the top of the league table for another week.

The girls got off to an uncharacteristically slow start against a much improved Ascot  resulting in the the first goal of the game to the visitors, leaving the blues one nil down – A first for this season.

The girls quickly responded with a strong run and convincing finish from top goalscorer Becky Tinnelly – it was level pegging in what was a slow and sloppy half which ended with Ascot scoring just before the half time whistle putting them to one up into the break.

Coach Andys halftime talk seemed to do the job and Maidenhead started the second half with considerably more focus and pace. With Charlie ‘poacher’ Potter scoring within the first three minutes of the second-half. This was followed by a second skilfully controlled goal from Potter.

The game now shifted into a different gear with a fantastic goal four from Emily McMaster (a deflection/own goal) and another beautifully controlled half volley from Tinnelly making it 5 for the blues – Finally the girls were showing the discipline and skills that we are now so used to seeing.

Goals six and seven were thanks to McMaster and striker Hattie Parkinson. This brought the full-time score to 7-2. Now that’s more like it girls.

It is worth noting the U14s were missing three key players this week – two of which being both goalkeepers!! Always a helpful addition to a football team!! So a special mention has to go out to Sofia Vicarelli for stepping up to the plate and playing in goal for the very first time of her fledgling football career.

Fresh off the back of last weeks Berks Futsal tournament triumph the Maidenhead under 14 girls continued their winning streak with a convincing score over a strong Tilehurst team.

It was back to business for the u14 girls with their first 11 aside league match of 2020 and they didn’t hang about stating their intentions from the start, with the first of four goals being slotted away within the three minutes of kick off thanks to ‘goal machine’ Becky Tinnelly.

The girls maintained 85% possession throughout the first half with Charlie Potter perfectly poaching a second goal from Sofia Lacey’s corner just before half-time.

The second half saw Maidenheads wall of defence thwarting any chance of Tilehurst breaking through, resulting in only two attempts at goal – both kept out of the back of the net by keeper Lily May. The attack continued with striker Hattie Parkinson running in a third goal followed by a definitive fourth from Becky Tinnelly.

With only seven league matches to go the pressure is now on. Can girls retain their lead and reign supreme to win the league title for the first time in their history? Only time will tell.  It’s all to play for!!!

Maidenhead U14 Girls entered 2 teams into the annual Futsal competition held for all teams in the Berkshire County Football League on Saturday 11 Jan 2020.

The U14 Blues team were undefeated scoring 23 goals as they banished the demons of the last 2 years (where they lost very close finals both times) winning the final 3-2 against Caversham.

The Whites team played some remarkable football with exceptional skills demonstrated, in particular by Violet Kingston-Wheeler, Georgina Evans and Hattie Parkinson and were very unlucky not to get better results in their pool.

The Blues team of Rebecca Hesketh, Sofia Lacey, Emily McCartney, Emily McMaster, Daniela Yakubovich and “Goal machine” Becky Tinnelly took a while to get going with the Futsal format with a couple of 1-1 draws to start. They were deserved winners overall as they swept away teams from Reading, Wargrave and Caversham 2-0, 5-0, 4-0 in the pool and then won the QF 3-0 and SF 2-0 with plenty to spare.

Maidenhead U14 Girls recorded 2 more wins to breeze through to the Quarter Finals of the Berks & Bucks FA Cup and to top Division 1 of the Berkshire County Girls Football League.

This is number of girls have been impacted by flu recently and the team is now (almost) back to full strength……

The 2 wins were a 2-0 win over Tilehurst Panthers in the Berks/Bucks FA Cup and a 4-1 league win over AFC Reading.

It was great to see Rebecca Hesketh and Hattie Parkinson score cracking goals in these matches respectively.

Kate Lee and Lily May Sheperd have been taking turns in goal with some great saves each and the defence is almost impregnable now! Emily McCartney and Violet Kingston Wheeler don’t let anyone past and have now taken to surging forward later on in games to put extreme pressure on teams.

Coach Andy has high standards already and the girls were joined in training this week by a U14 England player to help out with the coaching – this really raised the bar!

The under 14 girls continue to reign supreme with another impressive 6-1 win ,this time over last year’s Berks League Cup winners- Thatcham Town.

After a chilly and  scrappy start to the first half the girls quickly warmed up and found their rhythm with a perfectly timed volley into the net from Emily McMaster fed by a pinpoint accurate corner from Sofia Lacey. This was promptly followed by another from striker Charlie Potter and one from ‘goal machine’ Becky Tinnelly.

The second half saw a considerably more focused, disciplined and organised Maidenhead retaining 90% of the possession throughout with another two goals from Tinnelly (she just keeps on scoring hat tricks!) and one more from McMaster.

Lily May Shepherd had a great game out of goal for a change – really keeping their key striker quiet and Kate Lee played like she’s been part of the team for years when in fact it was her 3rd game. This was exceptionally helpful as 3 of the squad were unavailable or ill.

This win is  particularly impressive when looking at old score sheets from two seasons ago when the girls were conceding losses of 14 -1 against Thatcham Town. This result is not only testament to all of coach Andy’s hard work with the girls but also a clear indication of their growing talent and discipline on the pitch. Maidenhead under 14 girls are quickly  becoming the team to beat this season.

With this win they go sailing through into the semifinal of the Berkshire league girls football cup.

Maidenhead U14 Girls won a tight match 3-2 over cup rivals Wargrave on Sat 16 Nov. Maidenhead took a 2-0 lead initially with goals from Charlie Potter and Becky Tinnelly. Wargrave came back into it with 2 goals in the second half and it took a spectacular run around three players for Becky Tinnelly to finish the game off for Maidnehead. The girls are still unbeaten!

Coach Andy said “It was especially pleasing to win today as we have 2 players out injured and a couple of players playing in new positions for the first time. “

Sofia Vicarelli has only joined the team recently and played with real tenacity, chasing every ball and hassling all opponents. Violet Kingston-Wheeler had her best game for the team so far, not letting anyone past and with some great interceptions against the attacking players.

Maidenhead girls are now guaranteed a semi final spot in the Berkshire County Girls Football League Cup competition.

In other news parent Steve found this photo on his phone from 4/5 years ago from a mixed age group Maidenhead Tournament team…..cute eh.