Phoenix ended a great year of development with a 3-1 win against Cramlington United Lionesses. The win, in part, was reward for some good performances recently that had gone un-rewarded.

The girls started with intend and scored in the 2nd minute when Daisy fed Jess in the inside right channel, who in turn played in Lucy to dispatch an excellent finish into the corner. The girls maintained the intensity and nearly scored a similar goal involving Daisy, Jess and Lucy again, this time the ball going narrowly wide. The girls continued to dominate the game and were rewarded with an outstanding goal from Daisy as we transitioned quickly from defence to attack. Picking the ball up just inside her own half, she drove forward before firing a shot from outside the box high into the net. This demonstrated the ability Daisy has, and great to see such a great team player adding that little bit of ruthlessness to her game. Brilliant.

For the remainder of the half, Cramlington came into the game a little bit more but we were generally comfortable, with Alice keeping the team well structured and Lola, Sophia, Anya and Eve providing good width when attacking, and defensive cover when the ball on the opposite side of the pitch. We needed Ruby to make one save of note, else we were full value for the lead at half time. The only message at half time was around kick-ins – a) can we look to take them quicker before the opposition sets their shape or b) if you see the opposition walking away from the ball and looking away from the ball, can we make a run to receive the short pass and then we are back playing.

We made a few positional changes in the second half to give the girls exposure to receiving the ball in different positions and defending from different positions. This did mean Cramlington came into the game more and we did need Ruby on a few occasions to make saves. That said, we continued to take the game to Cramlington. Anya was making driving runs from defence in the 3/4 quarter and then continued to do so from midfield in the final quarter. On a couple of occasions, she was unfortunate this did not end in a goal, which would have been fitting for an outstanding performance. Alice, having a period playing in midfield, also made a couple of driving runs but then looked for he pass when carrying on with the run may have been the better option. Again, having more exposure to this position in 2021 will help develop decision making in all these different scenarios.

Towards the end of the game we were hanging on a bit but managed to kill the game with a brilliant counter-attacking goal. Jess stopped a Cramlington attack just outside our box and drove up the right wing beating 3 players before crossing for Sophia to finish at the back post. A brilliant goal and one Sophia deserved for her work rate in the game, defensive discipline when playing right back and running of the ball when playing in attack.

Opposition Player of Match: Jess

Coaches' Player of Match: Anya