U16's Girls Doncaster Cup Final Balby Carr v's Hayfield Monday 7th June 2010    Nerves, excitement and anxiety ran through the Balby players on the day of the Doncaster cup final, a day which could see Balby Carr end their impressive season with a cup final victory. The only thing that stood against Balby lifting the prestigious cup was hayfield; a team in which Balby had met before many times in previous competitions, history proved that games between these two sides were tight all ending in equal amount of wins and losses. Tactically Balby were ready, as the plan before the match was to stay compact and not concede early on. Each player was assigned a job to do as we knew today was all about how the team would cope under the pressure of hayfield’s strong attack and also our attackers were instructed to capitalise on their inexperienced defence during the wet and rainy conditions. Balby also had the advantage of being the home side, having a great army of support in the form of teachers, parents, pupils and even the head teacher too.   Balby won the toss and kicked things off immediately. Due to the conditions the pitch helped Balby’s passing game, helping them string a few passes together before winning numerous corners in which the keeper and defence looked nervy and unable to cope with. Therefore Balby were determined to keep the ball and pressurise their defence on numerous occasions. The breakthrough came when Megan Wilson, our strong ‘no nonsense’ defender who had kept Hayfield’s main threat quiet for the duration of the game, took the goal kick which bounced over their defence, and charlotte lurked behind them and placed the ball in the far corner out of the reach of the goal keeper. Balby then pressured and frustrated hayfield by winning every second ball and closing down each of their attack. This lead to hayfield making a mistake straight from the goal kick as the goal kick went straight to charlotte who with a good first touch, went on to score past the keeper. Balby were starting to dominate the game as Nessa was running up and down the wing at pace, passing their defenders at ease. Casey helped the defence as she tracked back and slid in bravely and winning challenges deep in our own half. Devan and Hollie Williams worked hard as left back and right back to clear the lines and set off the attack. Chelsea D and Chelsea M also worked hard in defence to keep a clean sheet. Hannah down produced some excellent saves in goal, making each save look effortless as she looked comfortable in the net, even carrying an injury. As the game developed, it was clear our midfield domination was clear, as holly Smith and sarah-paul produced some excellent wing play, as Ann-Toni worked hard to retain possession and set off the attack along with Casey.   All of this hard work was reflected, as Nessa cut inside and passed the ball to charlotte who laid it off for Alza to run on to, and just as she looked to pull the trigger, a tackle was made from behind to bring her down inside the penalty box, resulting in a spot kick for Balby. Alza stepped up and placed the penalty kick in the bottom left hand corner, sending the opposition keeper the wring way, 3-0 to Balby. With half time approaching, Balby looked to increase their lead as charlotte ran on to a excellent pass from Casey, to give Balby a well deserved 4-0 at half time.   As the 2nd half approached, Balby looked to increase the score line and maintain the clean sheet. The message was drilled into us to keep possession of the ball and this was echoed by our 2nd half performance. As Balby looked comfortable in possession, passing around in triangles and creating chances, it looked like the team had gone back to basics which was a real key to this performance, through these simplicity of the passing game, there were glimpse of greatness in the way the team created their goals, as moments later Alza threaded the ball through in a tight angle; for charlotte to read the pass well, and run on to score the 5th goal for Balby. The 6th goal was a replicate of the last goal, as the ball was threaded by Alza, for charlotte to run onto and score past the keeper. balby then continued to sink hayfield with their quick one touch passes as Megan fed the ball to casey, who with good awareness slipped the ball to charlotte, who produced another well composed finish in front of goal. The score line was now 7-0, hayfield looked physically and emotionally drained from all the chasing, one of their star players reacted unsportingly towards our centre back; Megan-who had man marked her excellently throughout the game- in frustration she lashed out, which resulted in both players going head to head, but the team reacted excellently as they were soon split up(by the smallest player on the pitch; Alza) and the occasion was not ruined, as referee dealt with the situation and both players shook hands; a real testimony to both sides as the situation did not escalate. As soon as the play resumed, Balby hit back again, same style of play, same passing mentality, this time holly switching the ball to nessa, who with a quick one-two with Case , put the ball in Alza’s path, who went past hayfields full back and drilled the ball across the penalty area, where charlotte stood to round off Balby scoring , and tap it home for final goal of the match.   Finally, special recognition must go to Miss Clarke & (hurts me to say this) ‘The Special One’ Mr Lewis!  On a serious note, all credit must go to them, as they helped with the organisation of the team with the absence of our manger; Miss Pearson, who could not make it to the match-due to illness, did a magnificent job all season and even in the final, she managed to get tactical messages to us beforehand, and on behalf of the team, this victory was dedicated to her hard work all season as a fantastic team manger along with Miss Wilsher. We are now looking to take this magnificent form into our France Tour in less than a month’s times and looking on adding some more silver wear to our prestigious trophy cabinet.   Team: Hannah Down, Devan Smith, Megan Wilson, Chelsea Makuch, Hollie Williams, Holly Smith, Nessa Shillito, Casey Daniels, Ann-toni Greaves, Alza Hassan, Charlotte Cork & Chelsea Daniels   Miss Pearson