Phoenix picked up where they left off before lock-down, playing West Moor again. This time in the top league, which will present challenges every week for the girls.

Per the previous game, the girls started in the ascendancy and had most of the possession in the early part of the game, although we struggled to make any definitive changes. West Moor started to come into the game, and during this period, they scored the opening goal – a good one as well. Their #10 ran down the left flank beating two players, before getting her head, recognising she had a 2 v 1 overload and squared the goal to her team mate to score. This is a great example we as a team need to recognise and take into our game.

Before long, West Moor added a second with a finish from a similar position giving Ruby no chance in goal. We responded well, with Ruby H being the catalyst, dominating the midfield and driving forward at every opportunity. During this period, we had two great chances to get back into the game. The first chance saw Gracie’s run and cross just evade Lucy in front of goal. The second, a few minutes later, saw Ruby put Lucy through and her shot was well saved by the West Moor keeper, who is a very dominate figure in goal as we found to our cost in the previous game. 2-0 at half time; the message highlighting their 1st goal and how we need to try and replicate that decision making in the final third.

Into the second half and we continued to push forward and had several promising moves that broke down. As we pushed, and started to take risks, we needed Ruby in Goal a couple of times to keep us in the game, which she did excellently. We finally got reward for our play with a brilliant control and finish into the bottom corner from Gracie with 2 minutes to go, however were left with insufficient time to press for the equaliser.

As we take stock from the two West Moor games, a few themes to work on:

We need to have our heads up when we play, particularly in the final third and recognise when we have an over-load (2 v 1), what the best decision should be.
Good to see us getting shots in … we just need to take a split second longer to adjust our body position (standing foot next to the ball and pointing forward before we strike). Whilst a defender might occasionally get back and cover, we are still likely to score more goals by getting our technique correct.
When we are defending, we still need to be thinking about where the space is if I get the ball. We need to see all the girls spending more time on the ball driving into spaces.

Overall, another excellent performance. Honestly, the girls have come a huge way in the

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