Maidenhead U14 A v Gerrards Cross

EIGHT goals by our super-striker Maddy will guarantee to grab her the headlines in this wonderful
away win. But it was a dominant all-round team display which made victory in this one-sided match so
emphatic.

We were fired up from the start with three short corners in the first three minutes as we set up
camp deep in opposition territory. The first goal in the sixth minute set the pattern of play for much of the game. Deep-lying midfielder
Lizzie fed the ball out to Emily on the right, she drove forward and angled a good pass into Maddy who shot home.
Two minutes later another short corner, injected by Lizzie, was hit hard by Emily and when the shot was blocked Lizzie had followed in to tap home.

Next, a hard hit out of defence from Zara, following a rare break-out by GX, was picked up by Maddie who raced through to finish neatly.
Her 11 minute hat-trick was completed by some quick poaching in the D following more good work out of defence by Zara down the right to Emily who again got the ball into the danger zone. We created more chances with Amy driving through from midfield and Annabel putting pressure on the over-worked home defence. But we had to content ourselves with a 4-0 lead at the break as both Maddy and Amy took breathers on the side-line after getting knocks.

Some teams would have sat back in the second half, but we went back on the attack. A refreshed Maddy’s next four goals were a far post tap-in, a run and shot, another set-up by Emily and a steal from a defender to slot home.
Finally it was someone else’s turn to score. First Amy and then Lucy shot home from the edge of the D, before provider Emily set up Amy for her second. It was left to Maddy to make up the dozen.

In fairness to Gerrards Cross, they never gave up. But their one U14 team is more suited to Development games and the midfield strength of Tilda and Lucy – making an impressive A Team debut – meant their breaks out of their own half were few and far between.
When they did make any in-roads into our half, Hattie and Zara in the middle and a combination of Anna, Amber or Tori on the flanks snuffed out their attacks with ease. Alexis in goal never really had a shot to save.

This was a good confidence-building win and a chance to establish a pattern of play of getting the ball out wide and into space at pace. But there will be much tougher games ahead. I must say thanks to the extra-parental coaching support I had … and the cup of coffee to keep me warm on a chilly day. It’s definitely now time mums/dads sorted out base layers for our girls!

Looking ahead, the A Team has matches at home on the next two Sundays, starting with Oxford Hawks. Watch out for team lists in the next 24 hours from Jacqui and please confirm ASAP.

Jim Taylor