BLUs

On Sunday 5 December, the BLU U11 squad travelled to Longwell Green. Under a grey sky, on a freezing day, both coaches and players had to keep moving to stay warm.

As the match kicked off, our forwards, Jess and Evie, pressed vigorously, creating a few early chances. Soon, Evie had put us in front with our first goal. At the other end of the pitch, Kate and Katherine in defence were putting in some stunning tackles against a physical opposition. We were playing confidently and passing accurately – our training the Wednesday before had really paid off.

The opposition’s defence was hard to dribble past, but soon, we’d hit the back of the net twice more, thanks to Jess and Evie. In the dying moments of the first half, Lamorna took our corner and crossed the ball expertly to Jess, who fired it at the keeper. She made a fantastic save, but the rebound fell straight to Betsy, who smashed it in on the half-volley. Lamorna quickly added another just before the half time whistle to make it a perfect first half.

After an inspiring half-time team talk, we were keen to get back into it. Longwell Green came back fighting, though, and had several excellent chances. Luckily, with some super saves from Betsy, we kept them out. Iris created some superb chances in the heart of midfield, while defenders Evie and Maeve did their bit with goal-stopping tackles. Then Jess scored another, but things were looking bad for us when the opposition won a corner. They crossed the ball to the edge of the penalty area, where Katherine deftly blocked the shot. The rebound fell to Longwell Green, but Kate clawed the ball off the line and swiftly scooped it up. We passed the ball up the pitch to Jess, who slotted it home for our final goal, and her hat-trick!

Altogether, we felt like this was our best match of the season so far – thank you, coaches, and also Longwell Green for being amazing opponents!

Match report written by Kate from the BLU U11 team

After experiencing the baltic weather conditions last week, the girls turned up to today’s match (Sunday 28/11/21) well prepared with base layers, coats, hats, gloves and snoods (other than cold-resistant Isla of course!). This week we faced Emersons Green for the first time. We started the match straight away, putting up a good battle against a strong side. Our defenders Rosie and Susie were clearing the ball away from the goal, passing it onto our midfielders (Zoe, Isla and Evie) who were dribbling confidently up the pitch. Our starting striker was Alice, who was positioning herself well to tap the ball in. However nothing was coming of our brilliant attacks. Substitutions saw Leah come on in defence with Poppy and Sophie coming on in attack to replace tired legs. Our chances were coming fast and often, but nothing was quite enough to get into the back of the net. Niamh and Eleanor came on to replace our defenders, keeping up our strong back line and not letting their attackers have a shot against Abbie. But when they did get through we were in safe hands. Abbie was throwing herself around the place, getting her fingertips on the ball to place it round the post, protecting the goal. Half-time whistle was blown and we entered even stevens, having played the best football I have ever seen the girls play.

We started the second half raring to go and keep warm. Our striker Poppy was on her toes and positioning herself well for through balls. Our wingers Evie and Zoe were dribbling the ball up the line confidently, crossing it into Isla and Poppy. Our defenders Eleanor and Susie were marking their attackers on the halfway line and getting to the ball before they even had a chance to turn towards the goal. Unfortunately the other team managed to slip through a few times, but the girls didn’t let this stop them. A substitution saw Sophie come on as a winger and Niamh come on in defence. Soon came our time of glory, Zoe dribbled the ball beautifully up the wing, cutting into the box and then passing the ball to Isla who slotted it into the back of the net. The crowd went crazy – all of the best supporters (parents and grandparents) jumping up and down in joy. Even though the girls had stayed positive, this motivated them even more. Niamh was well composed in defence, stopping their players from getting past and passing it confidently to Isla and Sophie in midfield. Alice and Eleanor soon came on in defence, demonstrated man-marking and powerful clearances. Like in the first half we had shot after shot, but none of them were seeming to go in again. We had close calls, like Isla hitting the post, missing by centimetres. We soon heard the full time whistle.

The girls are improving massively every week, going up against teams who have been playing matches for the past couple of seasons already. This week the Star Players went to Abbie for her insane saves (we know she does it every week – we are going to have to get her her own trophy soon!) and Niamh for her amazing defending and strength like we have been practising in training.

Written by Ellie Haines (U10s coach).

On Sunday the 21st November the U11 girls played against Nailsea at Canford Park in a very close game with some fantastic goals from Kate, Mairead (it was her first goal for the team) and Iris as well as very good goals from Nailsea. There were  lots of great tackles and clearances from Pippa, Emilie supported by Alice and Iris in defence which means that in the second half we were better at marking therefore it was easier for us to attack. There was some great goalkeeping from Maeve as well as some great midfielding from Lily and Astrid and attacking from Lamorna who created loads of space and lovely passing.  We passed the ball well due to our good communication and our good positioning on the pitch. We had so many attempts at scoring goals but Nailsea had a very good and experienced goalie who saved a lot of our shots. Overall it was a fantastic game which we were unlucky to narrowly lose. We never gave up and always pushed ourselves to catch up on the score. A huge thank you to all the cheering from the subs (who did well to keep warm as it was very cold), spectators and our amazing coaches for encouraging us.

Match report written by Emilie from the U11 team

My first every match report, it will be better than Ellie’s. Bright and early, 10:30 kick-off in Chipping Sodbury. Another away day at St Nicks. It was baltic outside, but the girls were up for it. First half started; we were pinning St Nicks in their own half. This was due to Poppy playing in centre of the park but in a more defensive role to usual, trying be mine and Tom’s Roy Keane. With Isla, Zoe and Evie striking shots at the St Nicks goal. 15 minutes into the first half, Abbie made a triple save and found her inner David De Gea. Abbie also had amazing distribution of the ball out from the back and made amazing saves. Sophie showed some amazing strength as she started in defence. Very vocal from both our captain (Isla) and our vice-captain (Sophie). Halfway through the first half Isla strikes again, this girl cannot stop scoring. A true stat-padder like Bruno Fernandes. Great pass from Zoe to slot in Isla for a one-on-one, Isla with ice in her veins slots it into the St Nicks goal. Up the other end Eleanor was showing some class defending and winning all her tackles and more importantly passing it out with composure to find the attackers. Furthermore, after Susie got blasted by the cold Mitre football (which left a significant red patch on her leg) she was still getting stuck in and winning her tackles and trying hard for the team. Niamh and Alice were put on with specific tasks to man-mark a couple of the St Nicks attackers and they did a fabulous job of it, stopping all the attacks they could. 

Half-time and the girls were freezing, it was not good conditions. But the girls were still up for it and wanted to get back on the pitch so they could stay warm. We were still getting shots on the St Nicks goal with Isla, Evie and Zoe breaking on the counter like prime Salah, Mane and Firmino. But the ball wouldn’t go into the net, Evie hit the post and the St Nicks goalkeeper made amazing saves after watching Abbie’s display. Later in the game we had Sophie playing upfront. The St Nicks goalkeeper failed to clear the ball, Sophie pounced and was sharper than all the other players and slotted it into the back of the net! Golden boot at the end of the season will be a close one with Sophie trying to catch Isla. The game ended, with the girls giving all they could give and their first game in the blistering cold. Great support from all the parents. Amazing home and away crowd, at least we never have empty seats like Man City. 

Our first star player went too Eleanor for an amazing defensive display. Our second star player went to Zoe for never stopping and for getting her assist for the first goal. 

Written by Jamil Khan (U10s coach and Manchester United supporter (if you can’t tell from the references)).

On Sunday the 10th of October BLUs U10s rocked up to South Bristol Sports Centre ready to take on Whitchurch U10s. First to take on the role of goalkeeper today was Zoe, supported by Eleanor and Isla in defence. After a bit of a rocky start to the game, we slowly began to get into the flow of it. Eleanor and Isla were confidently clearing the ball to our midfielders (Bonnie, Poppy and Evie) who were then travelling with the ball up the pitch and passing it on to our striker Sophie. Substitutions saw Alice come on upfront, as well as Leah and Niamh come on defence, immediately getting involved in the game and clearing the ball away from areas of danger. Despite our best efforts, the first half of the match did not go our way, but we will not dwell on that as the highlight of the first half was when Eleanor took on the role of goalkeeper. Nobody told us that the Peter Schmeichel of U10s girls was in our team! No matter what direction the shot came from, or the power that was behind the shot, everytime Eleanor stopped it from going in the back of the net. (Don’t worry Eleanor, we won’t stick you in goal every match!).

The second half of the match is when we finally started showing Whitchurch U10s what we were made of. With it taking Isla just 3 minutes to score our first goal of the match! A wonderful goal from outside the box that curled just inside the post in the bottom right corner, which nobody (not even their goalkeeper!) expected to go in. With a goal in our back pocket, the girls finally started to show their strength and skills through the game. Leah was our current goalkeeper with Niamh and Evie in defence, not letting a single Whitchurch player close to the goal, clearing the ball away everytime it came near the box. Our midfield of Zoe, Isla and Poppy were showing their confidence in keeping possession and passing the ball around. Leading to our second goal of the game, again by Isla. A lovely pass from Evie found Zoe in the box, who then passed it to Isla who then beautifully slotted it top right corner of the goal. A quick change saw Bonnie come on in attack and Eleanor and Sophie come on in defence. Not long after that came our next goal of the match, with Evie securing her first goal for BLUs! A beautiful pass from Zoe saw Evie receive the ball and precisely place it in the bottom corner of the goal. Our last goalkeeper change of the match put Poppy in goal till fulltime. With other substitutions bringing Alice, Leah and Niamh back onto the pitch. An amazing tackle by Bonnie lead to our final goal of the game. Isla came into possession of the ball and dribbled it past their players and into the box, powerfully hitting it into the top left corner. An absolutely beautiful goal, definitely a contender for goal of the season!

Every single player today showed resilience and strength through the game, making all of us coaches very proud. Unfortunately, we are not able to give everybody Star Player (even though they all definitely deserve it!). Our Star Players this week went to Isla (for scoring a wonderful hat trick and playing brilliantly in all positions) and Eleanor (for her amazing performance in both goal and defence, not letting a single ball get past her).

Written by Ellie Haines (U10s coach).

The sun was shining and the mood was high as we entered out first away game of the season. Despite everybody getting lost and struggling to find the playing fields, we all managed to get there in time for kick off. We started off strong with midfield (consisting of Zoe, Evie and Isla) confidently passing the ball around in Downend’s half, keeping possession as we settled into the match. This lead to the first of many attempts by our striker Sophie, but none were quite getting past their strong goalkeeper and into the back of the net. Although we were keeping possession well, Downend were still able to break through on counter attacks, but we had nothing to worry about with Susie and Rosie in defence, kicking the ball away any time it came near them. Poppy started in goal with not much to do and only touching the ball a couple of times in that position as the game developed. As we were reaching halfway through the first half Isla played a beautiful through-ball to Sophie who placed it in the back of the net. Next we carried out a few substitutions, bringing fresh legs onto the pitch and giving our starting players a well deserved rest, also switching around our goalkeepers with Isla next to take on the role. Our midfield now consisted of Niamh, Bonnie and Alice, who worked hard and put all their effort into getting the ball from defence to our new striker Zoe. Our new defenders Leah and Eleanor understood the job they had to do and were confidently tackling Downend’s players and clearing the ball out of our box. Despite our best efforts, Downend took control of the game at the end of the first half.

Not letting this get us down, we started the second half with our head’s held high. Sophie started the second half in goal, backed up by Rosie and Susie in defence. Again, we started off strong, passing the ball around. If the ball was ever lost Bonnie was on her toes in midfield running after the players, tackling to get it back in our possession and then passing it on to Poppy who was now our striker. Poppy had a fantastic run out in attack, with strikes going towards the top corners, however their goalkeeper this half was strong as well, so all attempts were being saved. New ways to score were being thought up by our attacking players, this lead to Poppy placing a lovely ball across the box, landing directly at Isla’s feet, Isla then placed the ball precisely in the back of the net, securing us another wonderful goal. Our final goalkeeper swap of the game resulted in Bonnie finishing the game in goal. With changes seeing Alice and Leah make their way onto the pitch. Leah understood her new role in midfield, confidently tackling players and feeding the ball through to Evie and Poppy. A slight knock to the knee then saw Eleanor heroically come on last minute as an injury substition for Alice. This saw us to the final whistle (a bit earlier than anticipated as other substitions were lined up!) and therefore bringing our first away game to a close.

Our star player trophies went to Rosie (for her amazing defensive performance, not letting a single ball past her) and Isla (for her fantastic passing, shooting and keeping of possession in midfield).

Written by Ellie Haines (U10s coach).