QPR Ladies Reserves 4:2 Stony Stratford
I was really pleased with the first-half display. We are starting to look like a proper team and the organisation is getting better. We still could have played better mind, because we lacked the care and experience needed with our final ball to really do the damage our play and dominance deserved.
I was pleased with a lot of little things I saw however and there’s a nucleus and foundation that’s starting to take shape that will allow us to take that next step further. We’ve looked exciting and with bags of potential in these last two matches.
We got off to a great start here too when Jade Creighton found herself on the ball and fed in a delightful pass along the deck into the path of Allana Ashmeil who raced through on goal. Allana still had plenty of work to do but finished beautifully from a wide angle.
Chloe Julien then scored a well earned goal to make it 2:0 from a well worked corner and was nothing more than we deserved, with the only real shame being that we should have scored more by half-time.
During the interval we spoke about the need to show a little more urgency and tempo but also to play with a bit more care with our passing. We warned them that they were playing towards the sunlight too, but we were confident it would start dropping and be less of a problem for us than it was for Stony Stratford.
In the second period we became a little bit scrappy but we did make lots of changes and swapped players about a bit, but overall, it was a job well done and I saw lots of things that we can be very pleased with. Jade Bowley worked herself into much better positions and we looked more balanced and with more natural shape than we did last week. Jade’s crossing let her down for the large part on the day but we know she can deliver really well and sometimes it just goes for you like that… but she’s starting to play to her strengths and is linking really well with Jade Creighton which is promising and something we’re working on.
We went 3:0 up thanks to a goal from substitute Danielle Clare Richards before conceding two sloppy goals and then going on to win 4:2 through a penalty from Allana. The Stony Stratford keeper played really well and made some astonishing saves in the second period that from the side, looked like were clear goals.
We had a full compliment of five substitutes as well, which is always tricky because it means a lot of players didn’t get the chance to complete a full 90 minutes. We took off some really good players, and some of our more experienced players and although it did show we were confident whoever was on the pitch would get the result we wanted.
People’s reaction to being made sub or being told they’re coming off for somebody else is always interesting and something I’m learning more and more about. It really isn’t easy and can be unpleasant, because of course, everybody wants to play. You could really feel the passion and disappointment some of the player’s had and that’s actually a good thing in my eyes and means they know we’re moving in the right direction and rightfully want to be a part of it.
On hindsight and further reflection, even at some point during that second half, we realised some of the changes we made were probably not the right ones given how the half panned out, but that’s all part and parcel of learning how to make the right change at the right time, and balancing that with getting certain players some minutes under their belts. I’m learning a lot too.
