S

Sunday 13th September 2009

The U12’s opening game of the season was at home to Meridian. Despite dark skies, wind and being cold, the girls knew their positions and made a positive start. Quickly on the attack, Megan K safely landed the first goal after 5 minutes. The forwards then put further pressure on and Alex laid on a perfect pass which Daisy sliced through the Meridian defence to make it 2-0. Jessica, Lacey and Lauren made some excellent play working hard in midfield. Meridian ceased any chance to have a shot at goal, but the defensive wall of Sarah, Tatjana, Shannon and Megan N proved hard to break through. In the 25th minute, a Meridian shot from the edge of the box flew into the Gravesham net – unstoppable ! Half time score 2-1.

The second half opened with Megan K scoring at an acute angle past the Meridian goalkeeper to make it 3-1. Meridian weren’t down and seemed to come back stronger. Gravesham had to re-compose quickly as the pressure swung against them. Maya fought tirelessly in defence and Ailish grabbed every chance to make some good runs through the midfield. A scramble in the Gravesham box saw Meridian pull back to 3-2. Gravesham heads went up following a long throw in from Sarah which Daisy ran onto to score Gravesham’s 4th. The defence could start to relax, Rebecca having worked hard in goal, with some of her clearances nearly putting her on the score sheet ! Kelsey continued to work with Lauren and Jessica keeping the ball up field. With the match nearing the end, Alex stole the ball from just inside the Gravesham half and ran effortlessly up the pitch, cracking the back of the net. Brilliant play!

Milton & Fulston U15's 4 Gravesham Girls U15's 4

A sluggish start saw the u15s concede an early goal, thankfully, we did not panic, regrouped and then began to take control of the game. The hard work soon paid off and at half time we deservedly lead 3-1 with Nicole scoring 2 goals and an excellent volley from Kayleigh, after such a good first half the game was ours to throw away.

Unfortunately 15 minutes into the second half we found ourselves level at 3-3, however we dug deep and did not collapse regaining the lead with a second goal from Kayleigh, after good work from Annie. We managed to hold on right until the end when we conceded again to make the score 4-4, a big improvement on last year, we know just need to learn how to play the game when ahead and hold onto the lead.

An excellent performance overall and a big positive was all our players making debuts had excellent games and look to have settle into the team well, keep up the good work.

Castle Colts 0 Gravesham Ladies 2

Gravesham Ladies travelled to Castle Colts for their second match of the season with a full compliment of players.

Gravesham dominated the first half and the central defensive pairing of Lauren Cutler and Victoria Terry snuffed out any threats posed by the Castle Colt forwards and although the forwards had chances to score we had to wait until the 44th minute for Laura Reilly to run on to a through ball and calmly lob the advancing keeper.

The second half saw Gravesham continue to push forward and the second goal came from a free kick midway through the half, won by Alex Witham and finished off by Amy Taylor from 25 yards.

The game was hard fought each girl gave their all and at the end of the match there was a lot of tired and aching limbs but they achieved a fine 2 – 0 victory.

Sunday 6th September 2009

Deal Town 4 – Gravesham Ladies 3

The new combined Ladies team travelled to Deal Town for the opening game of the season, unfortunately due to holidays, sickness and other reasons the squad consisted of 10 players. With the wind behind us we dominated the first 20 minutes coming close to scoring on several occasions before falling behind when a blocked shot fell to a Deal forward who slotted the ball home.

This spurred Gravesham on and they equalised within 10 minutes when Kerry Wigan ran onto a through ball to calmly beat the keeper. Gravesham by now were in total control and took the lead when Amy Taylor lobbed the keeper, which was followed by Kerry Baxter doing the same, at half time Gravesham led by 3 goals to 1.

The second half saw Deal pull one back when a long shot looped over stand in keeper Tania Cizmic, Gravesham continued pushing forward and Kerry Baxter had a chance to get her hat trick with only the keeper to beat but hit the ball over the cross bar. Deal equalised when a long shot deceived the keeper and took the lead when the defence failed to cut out a through ball the ball was calmly put past the keeper and despite Charlotte Rowley’s valiant attempt to clear the ball crossed the line.

Gravesham heads did not go down and despite running out of steam they still managed to hit the upright with the keeper beaten.

The team will improve as they get to know each other the main thing was they enjoyed the game, every one gave their all and despite the result going against us it was a very entertaining match.