KGLFL, Sun 17 Sept 2023

Risers take all three points with a clean sheet in their first home game of the season in a confident performance against visitors Tonbridge Panthers

Risers U16 girls played their first home game of the season at Canterbury Academy on a bobbly pitch but at least the temperature had dropped from last Sunday’s 31 degrees! The squad of 14 included new signings Eva and Lydia, with Grace back from injury.

After a nervous first couple of minutes, the excellent link-up play between Jeea and Ella that was to become a feature of the game resulted in a chance for Ella, who cut the ball back from her left to her right, completely wrong-footing the defender. Just 4 minutes in, Ella finished with a powerful shot, and although the keeper got a hand to it she couldn’t keep it out. 1-0 to Risers!

Eloise started solidly at the back. Together with Nancy, Lia and Jeea, the back four made some strong clearances and intercepted numerous passes to nullify any Tonbridge attacks. Eloise linked up with Ella who played a cheeky back heel to Jeea out on the left, but Tonbridge intercepted. Emily and Ella were linking up well on the left too. Madison had a shot on goal that brought a great save from the Tonbridge keeper. But Risers kept up the pressure with good attacking play. The ball found Ella again and 16 minutes in, she used some lovely footwork and then a cracking shot to score her second of the day. 2-0 to Risers!

Tonbridge renewed their efforts to pressure the Risers goal, and one attack needed an amazing block save from Connie on 19 minutes to keep her clean sheet. Connie’s decision- making about when to come off her line was excellent – one of the many qualities that make her such a capable keeper. She made some incredible saves in quick succession, on 25 mins and 28 mins, to protect the Risers’ two-goal lead. Coach Paul was really pleased that the work he and Connie are doing during training sessions is really paying off.

The Risers defence and midfield kept working hard to cut out any Tonbridge attacks and protect Connie’s goal. Lia’s timing of the challenge and tracking back was proving frustrating for the Tonbridge forwards, and Natalie was using her strength to put pressure on whenever the ball was coming out from the Tonbridge keeper to her back line. The Risers back four, now including Lydia who was subbed on (Eloise moving up to midfield), kept out any danger, all tracking their player and timing their challenges to perfection.

Soaking up the Tonbridge pressure, Jeea held the ball up then skilfully turned her player, distributing the ball to Ella in midfield, who put a lovely cross-field pass to Eloise on the right. Tonbridge won possession again though, and it needed a strong clearance from Lia to cut out the danger again. Nancy and Eloise combined well to win possession out on the right, and Eloise put in a lovely pass to captain Natalie, whose swerve of a strike from outside the box threw everyone, including the Tonbridge keeper, as the ball trickled past her right hand into the far corner of the goal! 3-0 to Risers!

New signings Lydia and Eva settled into the squad quickly. Shortly after coming on, Eva went on a run going past 3 defenders but the fourth made sure she wasn’t going to get a shot off. Eva also linked up well with Ella on the left and had her first strike on goal, which the keeper just managed to get to with her left hand to put it out for a corner.

Tonbridge kept on pressing the Risers’ half though, and Emily had to be strong in defence, intercepting the ball and using her football nous to put it out for a throw to avoid conceding a

corner. Lia also kept up her strong defensive work, though she had to come off shortly before the end of the first half with a nasty stud mark on her thigh for her efforts. The game was quite physical in parts, and Eloise was lucky not to get a yellow card for a robust challenge that ended up with a Tonbridge player having to come off with a nasty graze on her hip.

Half time, and Risers came off looking comfortable at 3-0.

Tonbridge started the second half strongly though, trying to get at least one back to get a foothold in the game. Two minutes in they had a corner that Madison dealt with to clear into midfield. Connie also had a nervous moment after running almost to the touchline near the corner flag to put the ball out, only for Tonbridge to take a quick throw and shot, which thankfully just went wide of the goal. Risers soon picked up their attacks again, and Eloise did some good work finishing with a lovely shot that was just over the top right-hand corner of the goal. Risers again won possession of the ball in the middle of the pitch, and 8 minutes into the second half, Eva squeezed between two Tonbridge defenders to put a lovely shot past the keeper, a goal on her debut! 4-0 to Risers!

Risers were passing the ball a lot better than they had in last week’s game, which helped retain possession to set up the numerous attacks. Lydia, Eloise and Grace did some good interplay but a Tonbridge defender put it out for a corner. Sunee, Emily and Ella were also combining well. Lydia’s timing of her movement to meet the ball when in the air was impressive, and Sophie was also putting what we did in training into practice, with some lovely control to pass the ball back to Madison.

Tonbridge kept up the pressure though, with their number 21 getting more and more of the ball. Connie did brilliantly in a 1 on 1 situation, blocking with her knees and body, with Nancy pouncing on the ball to clear it, getting to it before the Tonbridge attacker could do any damage.

The Riser coaches were pleased that the players were putting the focus of last week’s training session into action during the game. Sunee was adept at anticipating the flight of the ball and controlling it from the air, while Nancy was using her head, chest, abdomen and thigh, always keeping the ball under control from the air and making sure the onward pass reached one of our players.

The Riser attacks continued, Eloise putting in some good crosses down the right and Madison with a strong shot that needed a good save from the keeper, who again put it out for a corner. But Tonbridge never gave up, and continued to threaten the Risers’ goal, bringing even more good stops and catches from Connie.

At the other end of the pitch, Ella had a fantastic shot on 33 minutes but it hit the post. Sophie kept up the pressure on her opponent, forcing numerous mistakes. Five minutes before the close, Natalie sprinted to get on the end of a long ball over the top and got past 2 defenders but the shot went just wide. Risers sensed there was another goal in this, so the attacks continued. Grace put a lovely through-ball to Natalie but the Tonbridge defender was on it. Just three minutes before the final whistle, Grace had a super shot from the right (that broken toe clearly not bothering her anymore!) that hit the bar. Thankfully Ella was quickest to react, using her agility to dink the ball over the defender and then thunder it into the back of the net. 5-0 to Risers! The ref blew the final whistle shortly after.

A strong all-round performance, 5 lovely goals (and there could have been more) and a clean sheet. The team are gelling well after a lot of changes at the end of last season and losing a couple of players to injury early on this season.

Opponents’ player of the match: Connie Coaches’ player of the match: Connie Hat-trick award/medal: Ella

Thanks to Pippa for running the line, and Nat’s uncle for ground repair so that the corner flags would stay up!