Albury Eagles U13 Girls 5-1 Camberley U13
Although there had been heavy rain over the past week, a pitch inspection on Saturday afternoon confirmed that the Albury pitch had held up well and the game could go ahead on Sunday morning. With more rain overnight the pitch was muddy but with a concern over a backlog of fixtures the Eagles were keen to play and the game went ahead in the drizzle.
With absences and sickness the Eagles had a smaller squad than usual of 10 players for the match and the players knew that they would have to dig in today on a heavy pitch and try not to run out of steam. In fact with fitness being a key focus of midweek training they all looked strong throughout the 70 minutes.
As has been the case with the majority of the matches this season, the first 5-10 minutes was a battle in the middle of the pitch to assert control – and the Eagles came out on top. Ella worked her socks off throughout the game and was ably assisted by the hard running of Maeve and Bonnie on the right and left. As the match wore on these three played countless passes between opposition players for the forwards to run onto. The training sessions have certainly started to pay off.
The midfield took a hold of the game and the dominant running and dribbling of Freya and Molly (who played in attack, midfield and defence) caused chaos in the Camberley penalty area time and time again. Within 20 minutes Freya, Molly and Ella had all found the back of the net and the Eagles were 3-0 up.
With the rain coming down and the ball bouncing and skidding along the grass there were a lot of heavy touches and one ball was smashed by the Camberley central midfield player directly into Maeve’s face. Although she ultimately had to leave the pitch for ten minutes to ice her face, it was not before she had got up and chased the ball down – one very determined and committed Eagles player!
Before the end of the half the Camberley team had some attacks in the Albury half. They posed a real threat from throw-ins into the box and some great corner kicks which led to many scrambled clearances. However after one such long throw into the box and a failed clearance the Camberley centre forward managed to poke the ball into the net to make it 3-1. But to typify the Eagles performance they went straight back the other end and scored after delightful interplay between Bonnie, Freya and Ella leading to a powerful and unstoppable shot by Freya into the corner of the goal.
For the second half Seren came into Midfield and Stella went in goal. Seren ran tirelessly on the left hand side , showing real fight to win the ball and pass it forward. Stella had a quiet half in goal but her huge kicks out of hand were a real plus for the team. Heidi and Tabs continued to look calm in defence and repeatedly broke up attacks and moved the ball into midfield. They are an incredibly assured presence in defence and give huge solidity and confidence to the team.
Ruby took on responsibility for corners for the game and repeatedly caused chaos in the Camberley penalty area with delivery that was almost undefendable – chest high, aimed at the penalty spot and kicked with real power. With 5 minutes left of the game and the Camberley goalie saving everything thrown at her, Ruby whipped in a corner that ricocheted of a defender into the top corner.
The game ended 5-1 and was the most dominant Eagles display of the season. All ten of the girls raised their game today and played high tempo attacking football that was an absolute joy to watch.

Star Player : Freya
Parents Player : Molly