Hard Earned Victory for Timperley U18 Girls!

Timperley Girls U18 - 15
Brooklands Girls U18 - 13

The sweetest victories are always the ones that you don’t expect.
Timperley U18 girls took on Brooklands Gold U18 girls at Timperley on Sunday 5th November, and proceeded to set fire to the form book!

This game on paper looked to be one of our toughest tests of the season.

Our warm up was poor but as soon as the whistle went, the girls unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks on the Brooklands goal. This allowed Timperley to take a 3-0 lead inside five minutes. It was incredible and totally unexpected!

A time out from Brooklands saw them change tactics and with that the game changed. Brooklands showed exactly why we thought this would be the toughest game of the season as they pulled back all three goals.
Timperley stopped their momentum, adding one goal in return.
Q1 finished 4-3 to Timperley.

The second quarter saw Brooklands dominate play. Not helped by a bizarre sending off where Laura Kelly was brutally cluttered to the ground, and then somehow penalised at the same time, resulting in her sidelined for two minutes. During the minutes that followed, Brooklands scored four unanswered goals in five minutes.

Timperley pulled one back, but Brooklands added two more. The half finished 5-9 Brooklands.

It was time to dig deep. The game looked like it was running away from us.
Our half time talk covered commitment, team play, desire to win. The gauntlet was thrown down to the girls. And boy, how they responded!

What followed was one of the best displays of determination, effort and downright refusal to be beaten that I have witnessed.

Q3 was immense. At the half time break I had told the team that it was entirely possible to hit 4 goals in 5 minutes. What I didn’t tell them is how hard I thought it would be against THIS Brooklands team!!!

But 4 goals for Timperley it was, inside 5 minutes.

Incredible!

Tense moments followed with the two teams exchanging the lead.
9 all, 10-9, 10 all, 10-11.
The quarter ended with Brooklands holding a narrow 10-11 lead.

Time to reinforce the excellent attitude that the girls had shown in Q3! They took the final quarter by the scruff of the neck and fought their way to a momentous 15-13 victory.

And this with 2x U15s in the team and two of our most potent goalscorers, Chloe Lowndes and Henny Peach out injured.
But both (I’m pleased to say) were present and supporting their teammates on the sideline.

WHAT a performance!

The girls did themselves and the club proud today. A huge achievement against one of the league’s top U18 sides.

The team:

The ‘D-Team’:
GK: Katie Tighe - a rock in the Timperley goal. Provided key insight in Q2 time-out, allowing us to make effective changes. Always great commitment and ball distribution.

Charlotte Sadler - Charlotte never misses a tackle. Great thoughtful play out from the back to begin the transition.

Emily Porter - reliability with flair. Emily’s ability to win ball and hold possession was a great asset.

Eva Bowie - Formidable defender. But also has an attacking spark. Eva’s runs from D in the latter stages troubled Brooklands and forced them to re-think their strategy! Topped off her performance with a goal!

The true essence of team play, all 3 were excellent - supporting each other constantly. Hugely effective with support all over the field.

Midfield:
Sophie Porter - Sophie was Everywhere! Our 4th defender, but with an attacking twist! Huge commitment and great ability. Gave us a great platform to work from.

Franzi Christian - Franzi’s draw taking was masterful.
80-90% of draws bagged for Timperley. Had a huge positive impact on the game, as did her relentless work rate. Scored 3 fab goals too!

Carys Bucknall - Carys is a force to be reckoned with. Unstoppable when on top of her game. Gave us some great goals today and was super effective at exactly the right times! 6 clinical goals to add to her season tally.

Suzanne Whitmarsh - Suzanne is an U15 playing up for us, but you wouldn’t know it the way she played today. Confidence beyond her years. Reliable, competent, and finished her excellent contribution with a goal! Well done Suzanne!

Attack:
Laura Kelly - confident on the ball, and made some great moves to draw defenders. Was unlucky not to score when clattered to the ground in a questionable collision. Was even unluckier to be sent off for 2 mins too (still don’t understand that one!). Did really well to gather herself after that and return to play. Scored a great goal!

Alyssa Mehta - always fighting to win 50/50 ground balls! Worked hard and did really well to win some great turnovers right in front of goal, but narrowly missed out on scoring!

Holly Jackson - classy, smooth play with a clinical finish. Holly had some great moments of assured control and showed she’s a very useful goal threat, scoring three excellent goals!

Cara Mooney - speed and awareness, Cara’s movement around goal is a great asset, turning defenders inside out. Crucial for making space for the ball carrier to score.

Esme Torevell - reliable, and assured play. A great awareness of where to be to keep a great attacking shape. Excels behind goal play, drawing out the opposition whilst providing an attacking outlet.

Lexi Peach - our other U15 playing up to U18, but again you would not have guessed. Incredibly talented for her age, Lexi was completely at home at this level. The confidence she showed was impressive. Just wish we had more opportunity to give her, as well as all of our attackers more game time.

Thanks to all the supporters who cheered the girls on!
What a game!

Great Saves:
Katie - at least 8, probably more!

Scorers:
Carys - 6
Franzi - 3
Holly - 3
Laura - 1
Eva - 1
Suzanne - 1