Roses battle in the wind and rain

The Roses arrived at Whetstone Athletic for an afternoon kick-off with the bare eleven, a consequence of Easter Holidays, a later kick off and general unavailability.

Whetstone currently top of the league and had only been defeated to the undefeated Ashby Ivanhoe so we knew it was going to be a tough game.

We set out cautiously to try and pack the midfield and changed from our most recent formation to something new to accommodate availability in certain positions.

The game started with Whetstone immediately on top nicking a goal from a breakaway run through our defence and coolly finished when on goal.

The Roses had to dig in and they battled hard for the remainder of the half, chances were few and far between but we were probing and asking questions but our final ball was lacking at times. Our best chance came through a long shot from Tilly but the goalkeeper got across the goal quickly to make in the end what was a comfortable save.

At the other end Lyla was being kept busy and had to be alert off her line and she claimed a few crosses well. Defensively we had started to settle with Kiri and Evie coping well with the wingers an Lenna and Caris winning tackles and playing balls forward.

The weather was unforgiving, icy rain, wind which was chilling the bones and we were thankful to get to half-time at 1-0.

Second half and in the end with the remaining 20 minutes, Whetstone’s quality came through as they scored 3 more to make it 4-0.

Ellie had a chance at the end to give us a consolation but was under pressure from the defender and shot wide. Despite the weather and tough match, the girls remained in good spirits. We were celebrating moments on the pitch, one where Caris connected strongly with a ball dropping from the sky to shouts of “yes Caris” from her team mates. The same for Chloe chasing potential lost causes, Evie making a strong tackle and Lily making almost impossible passes like threading through the eye of a needle

Brilliant to see the support for each other in tough circumstances, that’s what makes the Roses so special, we keep going and support each other.

Player of the Match Evie

Players of the Match were awarded to Evie and Lily. Evie dropped in at right back and had a tough ask but she stuck at it and got stronger as the game went on, she made some good blocks, tackles and important clearances.

Player of the Match - Lily

Lily, once again was so good on the ball, she makes passes nobody else can see, she has real game intelligence. She had to mix up her game and do the dirty side, chasing back, winning tackles and we encouraged her to make a header at one point but that may have been a step too far on this occasion.

Well done girls!