After a downpour, the weather quickly turned and the sun was beating down on us.

The Roses started the game well and Ellie showed some fantastic feet, rolling the ball left and right before breaking through on goal and tapping past the goalkeeper from close range to make it 1-0 to the Roses!

In the early exchanges Burbage were finding hard to break down the resilient Bosworth defence of Katie, Tilly and Lilia who was supported well from Caris and Kayleigh out wide, both wingers tracked back well defensively and got forward to support the attack well, Kayleigh turned the defenders a number of times with her direct running whereas Caris kept possession well for the team.

Burbage equalised when the Roses under pressure failed to clear the ball, play came from the right side, a couple of missed clearances and the Burbage forward poked the ball past Lyla who couldn’t get her hands on the ball.

The Roses reacted in the perfect way with a fast response, almost straight from kick off Chloe finished from close range after a ball from the right hand side. It was great persistence from Chloe who followed up after the goalkeeper could not hold onto the crossed ball.

The Roses made it 3-1 when Ellie picked up a loose ball outside the box and played a nice pass into Poppy who finished low into the far corner.

The Roses were playing well and were keeping Burbage away from goal with long shots simple enough for Lyla to deal with but they did flash a ball across the box but nobody was there to finish it.

The Roses pushed for a fourth and it came after Esme who had come onto the field in defence burst forward with the ball and found Ellie who burst through on goal from wide but her shot rebounded off the post, Kiri reacted quickest to the rebound but it was a superb save from the Burbage goalkeeper and Chloe finished at the third time of us asking.

For the remainder of the half Burbage put us under a spell of pressure but Esme made a couple of strong recovery tackles as the opposition burst forward a few times down their right side and on the other side Katie was aggressive off the ball but being brave on it receiving it under pressure with some good play forward into our midfield or wide players. Hanging on a bit, Tilly made a couple of strong clearances and picked up a heavy knock after one but she was determined to continue. Well supported by our midfield of Lily and Sophie, both had made some timely clearances. Sophie was busy up and down the pitch whilst Lily showed her calmness on the ball and linked well once or twice with Caris wide left.

In the second half Lenna came into midfield to give Lily a bit of respite after working so hard. Lilia came on for Tilly and Kayleigh came back on for Caris.

A good start to the second half saw Kiri play a nice forward pass to Ellie who finished into the far corner, a really tidy finish across the keeper who didn’t have a chance with that one.

Burbage hit back, a strong run forward from the fast forward saw Lyla bravely come out at the players feet but the loose ball ricochet off the Burbage player into the net, it was a real brave attempt from Lyla who dived down at the feet of the attacker. Moments later Burbage hit us on the attack again as the Roses were stretched and had lost a little bit of organisation but it was a strong save from Lyla as she held onto a shot from close range.

Lenna was having a strong second half in the centre of midfield, she burst forward with the ball a couple of times and showed good accuracy with her passing. This led to a goal as she ran through a couple of challenges and played a ball through which Chloe ran onto and finished the 1v1 chance to make it 6-2.

The Roses defended well in the final moments as Tilly had returned to the field to keep us organised, Lilia was showing some determination to win the ball, all credit to her today as she wasn’t 100% but she still came and gave it her all for as long as she could.

Burbage scored their third goal in the final minutes but the Roses stood strong for the remainder of the game. The supporters were treated to 9 goals on a lovely sunny Sunday. Player of the Match was awarded to new girl Sophie, she has really hit the ground running and quite literally as she worked so hard for the team today. She made some important clearances and tackles whilst showing some nice skill at times with a couple of excellent turns.

Well done Sophie and the Roses!