The curtain came down on our pre season programme today as we hosted Bungay Town U13s, who play in the next year up age category in the NWGFL.

Bungay Town, who finished last season strongly in third place in the U12 Division 2, provided a stern test for our girls. However from the get-go our girls rose to the challenge superbly. At no point in the contest did the age difference show, and as neutral observers commented, our girls were well worthy of a draw from the game having lined up as follows:

Tia H (captain); Amalie T, Lauren R, Lily B; Ruth D, Mahala G, Maisie L; Caitlin F, Amelia W; subs: Beth J, Anya W.

With Sophia M present to support her teammates but unavailable for selection, and with Honey P and Emily P both away, we were denied a lot of our attacking options today. However this was clearly lost on Maisie who took on most of our attacking responsibility in the first half with some powerhouse runs down the wing, causing all sorts of problems for the visitors defence. Today was her best performance in a Blofield shirt without doubt and saw her easily claim the Manager’s Player of the Match award. After a break to recharge her batteries, she rejoined the fray in the second half to again cause havoc in the last ten minutes as we found ourselves chasing the game.

Despite a very even first 25 minutes, we were unlucky to fall behind to an opportunistic strike which captain Tia was unlucky not to keep out, in what was again another gutsy performance with good vocal commandment of her area all game.

Our girls kept their heads and regrouped at half time, with the gaffa carefully selecting a couple of key areas to work on. The girls were brilliant in taking all of this on board and came out second half all guns blazing. Ruth D, in particular, clearly took the half time learning in, because she came out in the second half doing exactly what was asked of her. On 53 minutes, Mahala won the ball on the edge of her own box and released Ruth with a tidy pass. What unfolded in the next twenty seconds was an early goal of the season contender as Ruth sped past three opposition players to drive into the box and finish superbly into the bottom right corner. She clearly had no intention of doing anything other than score and pull us level at 1-1.

Sadly, and perhaps undeservedly, on 55 minutes we fell a goal behind. Again, a helping of fortune assisted our visitors as the ball found its way JUST over the line after bouncing off a Blofield player. But once more, our girls clearly forgot that their opposition was a year older - a big difference at this age - and went in search of the equaliser again. Beth, introduced just before half time having been ill in the days leading up to the game and not quite 100%, brought her usual tenacity and urgency that gave the visitors something else to worry about. Anya, Amelia and Caitlin continued to throw the attacking kitchen sink at our opponents, but as we chased the game there was always the chance our visitors could nick a third which they duly did in the 60th minute to give the a score line a 1-3 look which did not reflect the game at all. This was particularly harsh on the back three of Amalie, Lauren and Lily who were again rock solid and more than competed against their older attacking opposition - never shirking any tackle and showing real character in dealing with the physical challenge they were presented with.

This was a quite superb performance by the girls, going toe to toe with older and bigger opposition. They can take immense credit for matching their opponents, and were very very unlucky not to come away with at least a draw.

Finally, a big thanks to our visitors who accepted this fixture at short notice and travelled up from Suffolk after our original opponents Waveney Lionesses U12s cancelled our original fixture.

But now the real business starts and the season kicks off next week at home to Beccles at Heathlands. Can’t wait!!!!

Blofield United Youth FC

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