Watford Ladies U18 v Garston Ladies U18 Jaguars

Watford battle to victory:
In a gripping tie against Garston Ladies Jaguars, 10 player Watford were pushed to their absolute limits. A bumpy start to the game saw immediate pressure from Garston, with their striker hitting a thunder bolt of a strike into the top right corner - Abi had no chance. Shortly after, an incredibly late tackle from the opposition left Evie in agony on the ground, and not being able to get back on her feet was forced to exit the action. Down to 9 now, Garston began to pour players forward in an attempt to secure a second goal, however our defence stood firm with Chanel, Pippa and Daisy making some vital interceptions. However, things soon took a turn for the worst when Safiya was forced off the pitch with a re-occurrence of her ankle injury. This had made the long road back for Watford a whole lot more difficult. Watford soaked up the pressure and on occasion had a chance to create their own opportunities - with the pace of Eva and Maya on the wings, Watford were able to fire some crosses into the box. Putting in the shift of their lives Watfords determination, intensity and passion with 8 players was out of this world. Following a neat passage of play on the left wing, Simi slotted a ball into Eva who was able to have a run at the Garston defence and was brought down right on the edge of the penalty area - arguably the denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity. Pippa stood up to take the free kick and narrowly fired her shot past the post. As half time neared, Garston again threatened to double their lead, however their play was broken up by a determined Aliyah who was rock solid in the centre of the park. The half ended with Watford 1-0 down.

The second half started with Watford exploding right out of the blocks. With the arrival of Iva, Watford began to maintain a sense of control and calm in the middle of the park and used the whole of the width of the pitch to start to create openings. Iva played a wonderful through ball to Simi who smashed the ball off the post, nevertheless recovering the ball, Simi saw the fantastic movement of Maya who ran onto a delightful through ball and slotted it home to bring Watford level. The next 10 minutes were full of complete Watford domination - chances were being created from left to right and how the ball didn’t end up in the net we don’t know. Unlucky not to score, Watford soon had to absorb a bit of pressure from Garston who themselves were looking for a breakthrough - Captain Abi made some incredible one on one saves, commanding her team with clear instructions and even pushing a great shot onto the post. As the match neared to a close, Safiya came back on with the teams very evenly matched, a quick throw in from Maya to Safiya, who flicked it on to Simi, who through on goal, she smashed the ball right into the bottom right corner! Watford celebrated but knew they couldn’t lose focus just yet. The defence were made to dig deep, even putting their body on the lines at times to keep Garston at bay. On the break, Aliyah lifted a lovely ball over the top to Safiya who hit a thunderbolt of a strike against the crossbar - agonising. A very nerve wracking final five minutes was filled with intense pressure from Garston, with Watford just about able to keep the ball from going into the back of the net. The full time whistle blew and Watford players had put in an heroic display and were now on the up with another win, putting them joint 2nd in the league table.
Player of the match - Chanel