Marlborough U12 Girls take on Cheltenham

Marlborough U12 Girls took 2 teams to Cheltenham, armed with only 1 sub between them but a parental support network got them through.

Marlborough were also tasked with organising the day's activities so the parents were there impressively early to help set up the goals, teams, goalkeepers, opposition coaches and get the play going on time. Huge thanks to Lou Terry and Tom Jeffery for organising a side each, and Bob Morriston for his dedication to his timekeeping and hooter sounding for 3 hours. The coach umpired if you were wondering where he was!
With no official goalkeepers it was left to 'volunteers' to get kitted up and a combination of Sophia Hodge, Cecily Gates, Kate Hawthorn and Ella Morriston did a fantastic job, only conceeding 3 goals between them over 8 matches.

Marlborough Jaguars (by Tom Jeffery)
Our first game was against Wotton Wallabies, and Marlborough came out with a great push. Having defended a short corner, the Jaguars steadily built in confidence, making good use of Freya and Molly on the left and right wings. Freya opened the scoring, swiftly followed by two goals from Ella and then one from Rosie to seal a 4-0 win. The team shifted a few roles for the second game, against Lydney Maroons, with Carys going forward and Saffron taking up position in center-mid. Carys scored from a short corner, while the combination of Saffron, Ella and Ursula in defence and Kate in goal meant a second clean sheet. 1-0 to Marlborough. Our third match brought some spirited opposition from the Lansdown Lions, with plenty of end-to-end play. Ella had padded up in goal, letting Kate play up front with Rosie. More strong passing through the midfield set up the forwards for a number of attacks on goal. Kate opened the scoring, only for Lansdown to apply pressure on our goal, ultimately putting one past Ella. The Marlborough girls showed that spirited attack can be the best defence and managed to get back into Lansdown's D. A final push saw the ball into Lansdown's goal, a bare couple of seconds after Ella's dad had sounded the hooter for the end of the game; would the goal stand? A quick discussion between the umpires concluded that it should not - the rules are clear that the hooter marks the end of the game. The 1-1 score fairly reflected the balance of play, while Marlborough could take some satisfaction that the game was (almost) theirs. Our final match was the most lively of the afternoon, as the Cirencester Zebras took the match to us. Marlborough responded strongly and Rosie put in a cracking goal. Cirencester were straight back at us, and set up well for a short corner. A mighty wallop lifted the ball through a high arc into Marlborough's goal. Too high, the umpires agreed; no goal. End to end play resumed, and eventually Cirencester were rewarded with a goal. 1-1 at the end.

The team: Ursula Jeffery, Kate Hawthorn, Rosie Armitage, Freya Henry, Carys Hughes, Ella Morrison, Molly Newham, Saffron Day

Top marks to Kate and Ella for playing two games each in goal. It is always great when players step up to the challenge of padding up, and both did very well. Huge thanks also to Ella's dad for keeping time - even if we might have wished that our third match could have been a couple of seconds longer!

Marlborough Panthers
The first game was against Marlborough's bogey side, Cirencester who went 1-0 up through a hard strike from their star player. Isla Fraser had a brilliant debut game in defence snuffing out more opportunities for Cirencester to increase their lead. Despite Marlborough creating lots of chances with good teamwork, they were anable to find the equaliser.
Cecily took to the goalkeeping duties for the 2nd game, where she enjoyed herself so much she continued for the remaining games. With some amazing kicking and reactions she kept 3 clean sheets. The first was against Wotton where Marlborough won 2-0, with a short corner goal from Grace Vaughan-Williams before Shelby scored the second. The final 2 games both finished 0-0 with Marlborough dominating both, but were unable to find their way past the Lansdown and Cheltenham goalkeepers respectively. All the girls worked really hard for their team mates and their build up play to get into shooting positions has improved hugely.

The team: Sophia Hodge, Isla Fraser, Chloe Salsbury-Lawton, Grace Vaughan-Williams, Shelby Horton, Cecily Gates, Mia Terry