With the rockets entering the Surrey girls league the opposition are guaranteed to provide you with a stern test each time and this encounter was no different.
Denham United (DU) are a very well organised team that play attractive football but can also battle for a result and from the start DU played with pace and decisive passing but a back 4 of Regan,Lindsay,Indie and Anna were very well organised and any pass that made it beyond them ran through to Fiona in the Rockets goal.
The Rockets were having plenty of success with clever passes in between the Denham left centre back and left back due to the clever runs from El and she was unlucky not to open the scoring inside the first 5 minutes when El latched onto a pass from Mia B and fired across the keeper but the spin on the ball saw the effort go narrowly wide.
Within minutes of that chance DU took the lead with a cracking effort, a neat passing move from the back saw the ball fall to their striker and she let fly from about 25 yards and her effort thundered off the underside of the crossbar and bounced down and over the line with Fiona not being able to do a thing about it to put DU 1 nil to the good.
Kinja continued to play progressive passing football when in possession and a high tempo pressing game when DU had the ball and this saw the rockets start to exert pressure and goal scoring chances became more frequent, A great through ball from Joya saw Kasey race clear but she fired her effort straight at the keeper,El profited from yet another clever pass and the keeper pushed her effort aside but with 20 minutes gone the rockets got the equaliser they deserved, Fiona passed the ball out from a goal kick to Aimee who laid the ball into the path of El who then looked up and saw Mia B break into the box and she passed the ball into her path and she fired home from 12 yards.
With her constant willingness to run El was proving a real thorn in Denhams side and her hard work was rewarded when she gave the rockets the lead on 33 minutes, build up play involving Ashleigh, Joya, and Aimee resulted in El being in a 1 on 1 situation with the DU keeper and she calmly fired across the keeper and into the far corner to put the rockets 2-1 ahead.
Shardonnae made her debut for the rockets and she was proving to be a handful too, due to her low centre of gravity and amazing footwork she was able to wriggle out of situations where she had 3 players trying to tackle her and because she attracted several players Kasey was able to force a tremendous save from the DU keeper after a strong shot from 15 yards, on the stroke of halftime the DU keeper produced yet another top class save when she pushed away another Elle drive and keep the score at 2-1 to the rockets.
The 2nd half saw DU push forward looking for an equaliser but both Regan and Lindsay read the game perfectly, when 1 went to meet the ball the other would sweep up behind, they knew when to challenge,when to stand up and not foul and this enabled them to break up countless advances forward and set Indie,Mia,Ashleigh and Aimee off on attacks.
15 minutes into the 2nd half El got the decisive goal, A rockets attack saw the ball fall to Kasey about 20 yards out and she hammered a shot goal wards which the keeper did well to stop from going in but the power on the shot was too great for her to hold and she spilt the ball and El slid the ball under the keeper and into the unguarded net from 5 yards out to make it 3-1 to the rockets.
Last seasons goalkeeper Anna had an outstanding game at left back and she had a hand in the rockets 4th, after Regan had intercepted a long ball forward she played the ball out to Anna who travelled forward with the ball and as Kasey came from deep to receive the pass from Anna she was fouled, Kasey was instructed by the rockets manager to test the keeper and she did as she was told, the ball was placed 5 yards outside the centre circle in the Denham half of the field and as the referee blew the whistle Kasey launched her effort goal wards, the DU keeper tried to keep it out but despite her best efforts she wasn't able to and the rockets were now 4-1 up.
The rockets continued to make good use of the substitutes and each time a sub was introduced they contributed to the team and the game immensely and with 10 minutes remaining DU mustered their 1st effort on goal in the 2nd half but Fiona watched the ball go 2 yards wide.
The game management shown by the team was excellent,from Shardonnae running the ball into the corner and evading robust challenges and winning corners and throw ons in Denham's half to Lindsey, Regan, Aimee, Joya, Anna, Ashleigh, Mia and Indie all keeping possession even if it meant going backwards but the ladies managed too see out the game and secure 3 points.
Team
Fiona, Indie, Regan, Lindsay, Anna, Jess, Aimee, El, Joya,
Ashleigh, Shardonnae, Kasey, Mia B.