Marlborough Girls U10s impress at Cheltenham

The Marlborough Panthers started first, but to be honest, the first 3 games were a bit lacklustre. They did not get stuck in and very much waited for ball to come to them. There were some good passes, but to invisible players and lots of crowding of MHC players in a small area of pitch. That said, we kept our composure and drew against Cirencester who have historically always beaten us.
Next game against Wotton, a goalless draw and a 3-0 loss against Cheltenham Tigers who played superbly, using the whole pitch and with some fantastic stick work.

The girls were understandably quite disheartened after this game, but a credit to them, they stepped up a gear in the next two matches and won 2-0 (Cecily Gates 2) and 2-1 (Eleanor Dennis, Freya Henry) against Cheltenham Lions and Lansdown respectively.

The last 2 games saw them attacking the ball with some great stick work from Eleanor, Anna White and Cecily, whilst Freya Henry, Xanthe Boote and Georgina Fry were backing them up beautifully, defending well and feeding them balls into the D. They were quick, taking the line outs (whoops, too much rugby)/side line hits quickly and increasing the momentum of the game and thereby catching the opposition off guard. Thomasina Keyes and Alice Rich worked very well together in defence helping to take some pressure of Jess Worrow, who again, played 10 games back to back! Jess made some fantastic saves and certainly impressed all the spectators who were watching by me!
Felicia

The Marlborough Leopards won 3 of their 5 games, drawing the other 2. The amazing Jess only let in 1 goal throughout all 5 games. But credit must also go to the defensive team of Heidi Crapper, Sophia Hodge and Carys Hughes for giving her little to do.
The forwards of Isla Ince, Amilia Dornan, Florence Miller and Francesca Smith were brilliant also, with some great positioning and regularly keen to shoot.
They started quickly, with a magnificent 7-0 win over Swindon. Florence was unstoppable with 5 of them from midfield, and Isla and Francesca scoring the other 2. The next 2 games the forwards found it more difficult, drawing 0-0 against Cheltenham with a strong defensive game from both sides. An epic battle against Cirencester ended 1-1 with again Florence scoring the goal.
The 4th game was against a tiring Lansdown team and they romped home 6-0. Isla scoring 1, Francesca 2 and Florence 3. However, the best performance of the day came in the final game. There was incisive passing, movement off the ball and numerous chances. Meanwhile Carys, playing in centre midfield, mopped up any attack that Cheltenham could muster. Florence showed that if you look up before shooting and pick your spot, scoring looks easy, scoring 4 and Isla the other in a 5-0 win. Isla's and one of Florence's goals particularly were the result of some great team passing. Great performances across the games it is brilliant to see them improving game by game.

A big thank you to Robin for umpiring, Freya’s dad for time keeping, Hannah Ince for organising the Leopards and for the parents for their support, hot chocolates and sugar supplies in the cold.