It`s That Most Wonderful Time Of The Year..
Wyrley Meerkats 6 v 2 Stoke Town (19.12.15)
Last game of 2015, a packed Long Lane crowd, pitch looking immaculate (thankyou Sir Keith), two teams chomping at the bit to get going and avoid the Christmas shopping!
Meerkats lined up in a 4-4-2 formation respecting the visitors unbeaten League form. A strong defence of Abi “Delap” Clay, Millie “Stonewall” Sturch, Harley “the Rock” Harper and Sophie “Terminator” Marlowe had the difficult task of keeping Stoke`s free-scoring forwards quiet.
Kick off and Meerkats were quick out of the blocks, a frantic pace, a whirlwind of teeth, claws and fur. Attitude and effort spot on!! No signs of sluggishness following the Snowdome Christmas party from this lot!!
A packed Stoke area and the ball spun out to the feet of Millie “Dodger” Rogers who drove it low into the net, 1v0, Get In!! The Perfect Start.
However, within a couple of minutes Stoke were level, poor marking from a throw in resulted in the Stoke forward stabbing the ball past Skye “Loco” Lee into an empty net.
A case of deja-vu minutes later as the same player gently rolled the ball into the Meerkats net to give Stoke the lead. Communication was clearly lacking in the Meerkat ranks. Pantomine season was well underway and shouts of “she`s behind you” echoed across the Meerkat defence.
Wyrley needed to get their heads up and show more desire and fighting spirit.
This was clearly demonstrated by Erin “the General” Waddilove who showed why she`s captain with a surging run into the oppositions penalty area, only to be up-ended by some desperate tackling – Clear Penalty !!! (think of Gerrard in Istanbul 2005 and you get the picture)
Erin duly stepped up to smash the ball into the net to bring the teams level .
More Wyrley pressure followed, this was more like it, the pace was frantic but it would take a couple of real moments of magic to turn the game around.
The first was produced by Mya “the Magician” Sidhu as she weaved her way past 3 defenders to curl the ball into the far corner to put the homeside back in front, followed by the second – a header, yes a HEADER from Eloise “the Engine” Yates to increase the Meerkats lead.
Four changes of Ranieri “the Tinkerman” proportions were made as Meerkats squad rotation policy was used to the full with Molly “the Bouncer” Cattell, Katie “Peggie” Mitchell, Ellie “the Enforcer” Parker and Faith “Mouse” Youd entering the fray. If it`s worked over the years for a Manager who`s currently sitting on top of the Premier League, it`s good enough for Wyrley.
Half time: Meerkats 4 Stoke 2
Second half and Stoke were determined to get back into the game, piling on the pressure with some good football but still couldn`t breach the Meerkats backline. A few hair-raising moments, particularly confusion caused by the back pass rule led to repeated screams of “pick it up” from anxious coaches.
The panic subsided and Meerkats weathered the storm starting to give the visitors problems on the break. Strong running by Sophie “Speedy” Willis and Mel “Mini” Cooper kept Meerkats on the front foot. With 10 minutes to go, a fine four pass move was finished off by Milly “Dodger” Rogers to make it 5v2. Who then quickly followed up with another great strike to claim her hat-trick, make it 6v2 and claim the 3 points.
One moment in the game summed up the Meerkats desire and attitude as Katie “Peggy” Mitchell ran 50 yards from the halfway to close down a Stoke defender and earn a Meerkat corner to huge cheers from the Meerkat Army.
Well done girls, a great performance to end 2015, more of the same in 2016 please. Coaches and Parents are extremely proud of you all.
Things to work on:
Eating turkey, opening presents, watching Elf, celebrating Christmas and enjoying the break
“simples”
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