The Roses took an early morning drive to Sileby except for Lily’s Dad Kev who came by boat due to recent flooding and looking like we were playing with ten we were pleased to see him dock with a few minutes to kick off which gave us our eleventh player.

We’ve had some good battles with Sileby on two previous occasions and this game was no different.

The Roses started quickly which has been the case for most of this season as Ellie got through on goal after we won possession high up the pitch and she finished calmly past the on rushing keeper.

After this goal the Roses had to really dig in as Sileby were the stronger team for the rest of the first half. Sileby were awarded a free kick which was struck with power and zipped off a wet surface, Lyla made the first save but the rebound fell kindly and it was a good finish from the Sileby player on the follow up.

A second came for Sileby with another good finish following Lyla’s kick up field which fell kindly. The Roses rode their luck a little with a ball hitting the post and being grabbed on the line and a cross from a free kick clipping the bar. Lyla made a good save pushing a shot over the bar following a shot from the edge of the box.

In general we were second best to the ball with the exception of Lilia and Sophie who were aggressive and playing on the front foot which we highlighted at half time. Our wide players Esme and Caris had to defend a lot for the first half and couldn’t support Kiri and Lenna who had made some good runs forward with the ball in attack.

A slight formation tweak at half time and a few positional changes, the ask was to be first to the ball in the second half and indeed we were however it did no stop us going 3-1 down early with some good play from Sileby and a ball across the box was finished well after some good build up play. Great goal Sileby!

As the half continued the Roses settled and started to look more of a threat in attack with Katie playing high up the pitch on the right and Lenna more advanced in midfield. Lenna played a few good passes wide into Katie who put Ellie through with a run on goal but the goalkeeper made a good save. Katie also had a few shots at goal and from the resulting goal kicks we were looking to keep Sileby in their own half.

The Roses put a cross into the box which was handled in the area, no mistake from the spot by Ellie who placed it into the corner. This goal gave us a much needed lift and the belief we could get back into the game as we continued to put pressure on the goal with Lily and Sophie winning the midfield battle with Lenna now playing more advanced and passing forward into attack.

Ellie scored another two with about ten minutes to spare, the first from Sileby trying to play out from the goal kick as she capitalised on a short pass. Her fourth (and our fourth) came from Katie winning the ball high and passing inside, Ellie showed some good feet and finished from close range to make it 4-3.

In the final ten minutes the Roses had to dig deep to see the game out but what was impressive was as well as we defended, the girls still continued to attack in numbers. Defensively Esme made some good tackles and passed forward to Katie and Tilly was playing the sweeper role excellently clearing the ball forward. Caris tracked back to make a good block and then played the ball forward into Kiri to get us up the pitch. Kiri provided a good outlet in attack, again showing good skill to retain possession.

The final whistle went and what a good win and battle the girls had, a fantastic second half comeback and a mature performance.
Coach Chad and Rob both agreed that Lilia was our Player of the Match today, she was first to every ball, closing down attackers and made some important blocks when needed. Even when beaten she didn’t stop and more often than not recovered the ball.

Well done Lilia and good work Roses!