U14 JPL 24/25 - LONDON LIONS

LL 1 Gogs 4

Cheshunt were no doubt looking at this game for the Gogs Turquoise girls to drop points.

It was crunch time at the Macarbi stadium, fourth placed London lions still had a chance for promotion and had this season kept many teams to the odd goal or a clean sheet. Preparation was perfect with all our squad in the car park buzzing before their manager had even unlocked the gates.

With a solid warm up and a game plan to take the action straight towards the LL’s goalmouth our girls did not disappoint, as Beth came close to a goal in the opening 10 seconds. The press plan had been set up and was well executed, both darice and Vanessa gobbled up goal kicks or the front three squeezed the ball back quickly when they played out from the back. 

Vanessa commanded the ball in midfield and played out to Isla who neatly layed the ball back to Abi whose upfield pass found Scarlett challenging their centre back the ball fell to Isla 25 yards out and she wound up a right foot shot that picked out the top left corner – bang what a goal to start. The girls were relentless, corners, throw ins with the game being played 90% of the time in the LL’s half.

Beth had  another left foot shot, Darcie had two shots, Zlatan was taking control and hitting 20 yard shots. The second was coming and a well worked throw in saw the ball come back to Ryah who swung a low drive at the goal,  Beth haunted the keeper to distraction and the ball found the back of the net from Ryah’s shot, that’s 8 in 15 games from a centre-back!!

Hetty and Abbi had control at the back and their vigilant defensive work allowed the Gogs team to work higher up the pitch. Charlotte had come on for Isla and Fleur was getting a second run out for the team after being cup-tied last week. 

It was business as usual second half, Vanessa hit the post, Ayse hit the crossbar. The pressure was building as the girls were relentless. Many moons ago I remember Charlotte playing in goal and we were giving a Hemel team a torrid game, they had 2 more players on the pitch as we were in double figures, and I was desperate to get every player on the scoresheet alas we could not get Charlotte a goal with 5 mins left and playing her up front.  She has been evolving as an outfield player and when Isla’s corner swirled into the box, Charlotte smartly stepped across her marker and with a perfectly time volley found the bottom left corner. It was a special moment as charlotte wheeled away in delight after such a clean strike. Chris was on his knee’s whilst Katherine was bustling down the A1 to catch what she could of the game. Two parents who week in week out show such commitment to both their daughters  football – it was a beautiful goal.

A fourth goal came from the result of another strong press, LL’s played the ball back to the keeper who was hunted down by Scarlett and Beth and  a strong challenge saw a deserved goal for Scarlett, well deserved after 60 minutes of tireless running. LL’s did  score a  consolation goal in the dying embers and ruined Mileys clean sheet bonus as she heads down under. It was a strong team effort, as all the players showed a commitment to working hard for each other as they chase  the dream of  winning a first league title.