*****MATCH REPORT*****

Thatcham Tornadoes vs Wargrave Warriors

Now then. Where did that come from? An excellent performance from our girls literally blowing away the Tornadoes with a devastating 9 ⚽️ display.

Granted our opposition had their first choice goalie missing and were a little charitable at the back but that doesn’t take away from a fluid and bright team performance where the system suited the girls and they executed the game plan brilliantly:

Let’s start with systems shall we. It’s very topical with Man United’s Amorim facing relentless criticism for setting his players up in a system that doesn’t suit them.

We coaches are constantly reviewing what works and doesn’t work and recently took the decision to move away from our favoured 4-2-3-1 formation to a 4-1-4-1 with a designated CDM (central defensive midfielder).

Lucy G has proved herself to have the best traits to boss the role with intelligent positioning, good footwork, an eye for a pass and relentless energy.

What that does is it enables the defenders to break from defence knowing Lucy G will cover.

This also unlocks the attack as with 2 central midfielders working hard in front of the CDM and 2 wingers opening up the pitch and 1 central striker in Lottie occupying their defenders helps us to control the pattern of the play.

It won’t work as effectively against the absolute best teams but there were more than glimpses today that it really suits our girls and they showed really great discipline to follow instructions for a system they’re not used to.
Great work Jo who had individual conversations pre game with all the girls to explain what we wanted each player to do in this system.

I love it when a plan comes together!

As for the goals well there’s too many to go through in detail so here’s a summary:

9 goals ⚽️
6 different goalscorers ?
Our first hat trick- Lottie ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Midfielders chipping in with goals from all over the final third - Alice, LucyB x 2, Lucy G and Poppy
And one from our captain Lucy M

Some great goals amongst them so you might be surprised that my favourite was the first one- because it was a tap in!

You’ve no idea how much hair we’ve torn out on the sidelines watching all these crosses fly across the box with no one gambling to be on the end of them!

So when Lucy B slotted home from a yard it felt damn good!

Lobbed goals are always special and we got a few today. We were clearly hungry for goals and it was good to see us put the opposition to the sword.

Our crossing from the wings was excellent with all of Holly, Jess, Poppy and Annabel taking on their full backs and creating so many chances.

Celine settled back in with a min of fuss with some absurdly gorgeous touches showing off her technical flair.

And finally a mention for our defence. Always the bedrock of our team. We were low on subs in the backline but the 5 today in Blossom, Lucy M, Ellie, Jemima and Kaitlyn all had their best performances of the season.

A true team performance. We’re absolutely buzzing.

A tough one at Bracknell next week but this performance should give us all confidence we can head there and get a result!

Enjoy your weekends.

Very happy coaches!