| League match | ||||||
| SUN 18 NOV, 2pm | Manchester Stingers | 6 | v | 2 | AFC Urmston Meadowside | |
Scorers
Victoria Smith (15, 24)
Jinny Ursell (60, 65)
Vicky Blue Eyes (84)
Player of the Match
Victoria Smith
Match Report
Manchester Stingers Vs Urmston Meadowside
Despite the miserable cold, wet afternoon, Manchester Stingers started their match with Urmston brightly, giving their west Manchester rivals no time on the ball and piling on the pressure up front. Chances came and went as our forwards kept being caught offside, and although mostly pushed back in their own half, Urmston proved to be quick on the break, with players running onto through balls and causing a few scares down the other end of the pitch. Some dogged defending from Helen kept the white and orange forwards at bay for a while, but then a mix-up between Jo (?) and Jane in goal lead to an Urmston goal. Boo. 0 - 1
Maybe earlier in the season Stingers heads would have gone down at this point, but a strong display last week against Denton (not reflected in the eventual score) seems to have given the Yellows a bit of confidence, and after the restart they cranked up the pressure once again. On the half hour Liz’s corner came back out to her and she popped one up into the box. Jo got on the end of this pass, sending a wicked dipping shot towards goal, only being denied a score sheet by a great save from the Urmston keeper, who tipped the ball over the bar. A few minutes after that, Irish Nic was put through by a great cross from Liz, and shot past the advancing Urmston keeper, only to see the ball cleared off the line.
Finally the breakthrough came as Rachael battled away in the area, squeezing a pass through to Vicky who turned and drove the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Hurrah! 1 – 1. Spirits were lifted again just before half time when Vicky got her second, latching onto a ricochet out of the Urmston defence and slotting coolly past the goalkeeper as the players waited for an offside decision from the ref that never came. 2 – 1.
The second half started with Urmston looking the more lively of the two teams, their nippy number 10 shooting wide when one-on-one with Jane, but it was the home side who increased the goal tally first with the best move of the match: Nic sent a perfect pass over to Jo on the wing, she crossed into the box and Jinny ran onto the ball, tapping in the Yellows third goal. 3 – 1. Stingers then relaxed a bit and played some lovely football, but maybe they relaxed a bit too much because Urmston scored next, working the ball to the edge of the box and shooting low past Jane. 3 – 2.
Then, rather than getting jittery, Stingers proved the rule that the best form of defence is attack, coming up with wave after wave of assaults on the Urmston goal. Jinny was her usual speedy self down the wing, beating AFC players along the way and sending a great shot / cross towards goal. This bamboozled the Urmston defence so much that one of them headed into her own net. 4 – 2. Then, while I was still writing about that goal, Jinny set off on the same run, but this time curled one past the keeper. 5 – 2!
From then on in it was all action, with Urmston getting a penalty (but hitting the bar), Grazie (on for Jo) crossing to Jinny who shot just wide (“missing a sitter” as former star striker Eve put it), Nic chipping the keeper (who palmed the ball back out to other super-sub Vicky Blue Eyes – on for Liz, who kneed the ball over the line) (yep, 6 – 2!!), and the best how-did-they-not-score? non-goal ever, in which practically every Stinger had a shot on goal, only to see the post hit twice and the ball cleared off the line about three times.
So, a fantastic display from the whole team, with Jane awake in nets (a surprise as she’d celebrated her 31st birthday the night before), Helen and Kerry tenacious and getting stuck in at the back, Katie and Rhianne intercepting and setting the ball moving forward from defence, Vicky bossing the middle of the park (Jesus may indeed want her for a sunbeam, but we want her in midfield first, so he’ll have to wait), Jinny and Jo showing real pace and sending in great crosses from the flanks, Liz putting in some cool passes, Rachael battling as hard as ever and Nic her usual ‘she’s here, she’s there, she’s every fucking where’ self (yes, that was her, sliding in and getting the ball off the Urmston player down near the corner flag on the edge of OUR area!).
So, the fight back starts here girls, let’s keep the ball rolling at Urmston (again!) next week: Remember to keep your heads up, stay onside, attack attack attack, everyone work hard for each other and don’t get sucked into moaning about what the referee does, or doesn’t give.Philippa Jarman