Match report

Match report

Unseasonably warm weather and bright sunshine saw Woodside and Stirling line up to complete round one. The game was tight from the start with Woodside having the better of it and confining much of the play to Stirling’s half. In return Stirling lunched some solo breaks, but the Woodside defence pulled them up well short of their 18-yard box. Woodside then pinned Stirling in their own half and some good goal keeping by En Ueda and some luck were all that kept Woodside from scoring at least two early goals. Led by Feiya Huang, Stirling lifted its work rate and started to piece together some combinations. The centre channel impenetrable, good distribution by Jess Verryt launched Layla Preece, Jasmijn Weits, and Aubrey Adams into clear air, and in the 24th minute, Aubrey Adams found the net. The Stirling defence of Rosalie Taylor, Emma Dalton, Izzy Bailes, Jae Fitch and Nora Bijlsma found a pattern and took the pressure of their keeper so that at half time Stirling were a somewhat improbable 1-0 up.

Enlivened, Stirling started the second half more confidently and flipped the table to pin Woodside down. Polly Harrison gained ascendancy in centre backed up by Emma Dalton, Izzy Bailes and some good passing combinations developed with Rosalie Taylor, Feiya Huang and Aubrey Adams on the left and Jasmijn Weits, Auriana Healy and En Ueda on the right. Despite good defending which kept many attacks out Auriana Healy sped her way through to score Stirling’s second. Relentless pressure saw Jess Verryt gain the half chance she needed score from just outside the 6-yard box. Then only a minutes later Feiya Huang made good one of her high paced attacks to score Stirling’s fourth. Woodside’s defence was good though and it was almost impossible to get very far into the 18-yard box. Woodside then lifted and pushed back into Stirling’s half. Now it was Stirling’s turn to defend resolutely for most of the last ten minutes. Despite some good attacks and shots, Woodside were just unable to net the ball and Stirling ran out winners 4-0.