U15s Diamonds vs Rainford Girls (H) - 26th Mar 2023
Our Diamonds are made of tough stuff!
Match Report
Milnrow Diamonds U15s 3 – 2 Rainford Girls U15s
Sunday saw third place Rainford visit second place Diamonds at Kingsway in what would turn out be a great game. It was a game which was fiercely but fairly contested, it ebbed and flowed, which the Diamonds came out on top.
The game was played on a muddy bobbly pitch due to the rain in the week. This stopped the usual free flowing game of the Diamonds.
The first ten minutes was battled out in midfield but slowly the Diamonds started to gain the upper hand.
The chances then started to come. First Cienna was put clean through only for the shot to just miss the far post. Then brilliant play by Cienna down the right wing taking on three players and producing a peach of a cross only for Holly to smash against the crossbar.
The Diamonds took the lead on 17 minutes when again Cienna was put through on goal again and this time managed to prod it past the keeper for 1-0.
A couple more chances came and went but then Rainford equalised against the run of play to make it 1-1.
The Diamonds are made of strong stuff and wouldn’t let this setback drop our heads. Instead they set off again to win the ball in midfield and further up the pitch. Poppy, Lexi, Ella and Libby won battle after battle which allowed Lexi to curve a wonderful through ball which Libby anticipated ghosting in behind the Rainford defence and chipping the keeper to make it 2-1 on 28 minutes.
Normal service resumed we thought but on 35 minutes a slight defensive mix up allowed Rainford through on goal to make it 2-2.
Half time came and the game was finely balanced at 2-2 but the stats show that the Diamonds had more than 10 shots on goal compared to 2 for Rainford.
The genius managerial duo of Mike and Jonty thought if we scored more than them in the second half we would win the game.
And as the super duo thought, attack after attack brought fruition after 60 minutes when Holly brilliantly got in behind the Rainford defence to cooly slot home for 3-2.
Chance after chance came for the Diamonds but they couldn’t add to the scoreline.
Tactical tweaks by Mike and Jonty saw the game out with the impressive Poppy and Lexi moving into defence after dominating midfield. The rest of the defence of Keeva, Sadie, Liv and Megan also impressed in defence.
Midfield in the end was won by Libby, Ella and Lois who kept dropping deep.
Up top Holly and Cienna ran the Rainford defence into the ground.
Although Poppy was magnificent in midfield, the cleverness and physical display of Lois set up the fantastic Cienna on the wing. So the Girl of the Game was shared by Cienna and Lois.
Got to thank Rainford for making the long trip and contributing to a great game in the end.
The game leaves the Diamonds still in the hunt for the league title with only a handful of games to go.
