On a crisp, sunny morning Albury Eagles Girls travelled to Warlingham, to face Fever United in what turned out to be a spirited and courageous performance from a very depleted squad. With illness, injury and half term holidays taking their toll, seven of the squad were unavailable so the Eagles had no substitutes and just nine players available, including an injured Ruby and unwell Freya.
The match began at a frantic pace and within the first minute, Ella was tripped in the box and the Eagles were awarded a penalty. Freya stepped up to take it but narrowly missed. However this didn’t deter the Eagles in the slightest and what followed was an end-to-end spell of football, with both sides creating chances and testing the goalkeepers. Seren made a series of sharp interceptions to come off her line and fall on the ball before the Fever United strikers could get their shots away.
As the half progressed, Albury’s teamwork began to shine through and some neat passing between Freya, Lyla and Ella lead to a clever through ball that found Freya, whose effort found the back of the net. Moments later, Ella broke through Fever’s defence and showed great composure, rounding the keeper to pass the ball into the goal to make it 2-0. Ella ran tirelessly in midfield, covering huge ground and battling for every ball, Cassidy impressed in her first ever full game, growing in confidence as the match went on and Isabel battled hard to win vital interceptions in the midfield. At the back Ria, Tabs and Ruby were strong, making interceptions and keeping the Fever’s attacks at bay but the threat from their number 9 was always there. The Eagles went into half time 2–0 up after an excellent first-half display but the Albury coaches felt that the game was definitely in the balance.
The second half, however, saw the toll of playing with no substitutes begin to show. After a strong opening to the second half, combined with their chasing in the first half, the Eagles girls visibly started to tire and slow down. Fever United started to win more 50:50 balls and make huge inroads down the wings with their pacy forward line. They slowly gained the upper hand began to dominate the play, scoring four goals in quick succession.
Despite the shift in play, the Eagles didn’t give up - pressing, tackling right to the final whistle. Even in defeat, they played in great spirits, supported one another, and kept their heads up- qualities that will serve them well as the season continues.
⭐ Star Player: Ella