Oxford City 3rds 3:4 QPR Ladies Reserves
You know, rarely does one get the opportunity to be involved and witness matches like these. It was an incredible game for so many different reasons and sent me and just about everybody else from one end of the emotional spectrum to the next. This one was special, like really special.
Oxford City 3rds are riding high in our division and from what I’d seen so far this season, are probably the strongest side the Reserves have come up against. They beat us 3:0 earlier in the campaign so we knew we were in for a game and a win here would allow us to leapfrog them back to the summit of the table, albeit having played more games.
That made this quite a big match and one we needed to win if we wanted to cement ourselves in the top part of the table and be seen as a serious threat to those around us, but it wasn’t something we felt we needed to relay to the players.
Having not played for several weeks, in fact, not since December 7th, we were concerned that some of the players were not quite up to speed and in the first 20 minutes it showed. We had a great chance to go one up, but instead we were trailing having conceded two sloppy goals and looking like we were heading for a hiding.
It’s at times like these that you look for character and a response from your team and boy did we get one. We kept patient on the sidelines and I personally felt comfortable and confident from what was unfolding that we’d get another chance, but knew we really needed to take it when it presented itself.
During a short pause in play due to an injury to an Oxford player, we gave some instructions to certain players to try and maximise our attacking opportunities and play more to our strengths. We asked Allana to adjust the timing and style of her runs and that made a key difference.
Allana soon broke away and scored with a fine finish to bring the game back to 2:1 and then struck the crossbar as we pinned the home team back under a period of intense pressure. Kesleigh Danielle Long then grabbed a deserved equaliser, forcing home after a series of corners before their keeper pulled off an outstanding save from Chloe Julien to keep the scores level.
But Allana completed a remarkable first-half by breaking through again before striking the post and firing in the rebound. It was a sensational comeback and quite an extraordinary turnaround which our play deserved.
At half-time I was really pleased. The lacklustre start was a concern and we let them know that, but at the same time, the resolve and mettle they’d shown to turn the game around back in our favour and the belief they showed in themselves to do that was very satisfying. Had we gone on to lose the match I would have still have seen enough progress in that period to have made me content. All we really asked them to do was to go back out there and show that they were worth their lead and to not shirk out of tackles they should be winning.
And the second-half will live as long in the memory as the first. There were plenty of players who were walking wounded, having picked up little knocks here and there or a stud mark or two and some of them were already looking heavily fatigued, which wasn’t surprising seeing as so many of them hadn’t played a proper game for some time.
Within minutes of the restart, we had to withdraw Allana who had strained her calf after she got round the back yet again and then Oxford equalised shortly afterwards after we sloppily conceded possession at the back making it 3:3. With our 20 goal striker now off the pitch, we then had to take off Jade Bowley who couldn’t continue after taking a kick on her ankle. Jade had just had a great chance to score before that as well after she raced through after some neat play down the right, but she fired straight at the keeper. In her place we only had Slyvia Williams, our new goalkeeper who started as sub on the day to play outfield.
At this point, you think the writing is on the wall for you, but we actually fashioned out a glorious chance to take the lead when Sylvia found herself in the box and through on goal. She took a great first touch but fired just over and given that we were starting to huff and puff, I thought that might have been our last major chance in front of goal.
But things went from bad to worse. First our goalkeeper Jess Devoti suffered a freak ankle injury when going off the pitch to collect the ball from an Oxford shot and somehow rolled her ankle in a divert. She had to come off leaving us with 10 players on the pitch as we’d used all our subs. Thankfully Sylvia was able to take goal and from here, with a good 35-40 minutes left to play it was all about trying to hang on.
With 25 minutes to go however, the match started to turn into something of a nightmare. Melanie Randall suffered a nasty facial injury in a head collision and we immediately took the decision to withdraw her from the game despite her insistence that she could carry on. That put us down to just 9 players on the pitch and it looked like all our good work was about to be undone, but the way we’d played with 10 until that point had given me confidence. I could see by the reaction and body language of our players that they were determined not to lose and in fact, I could see they weren’t prepared to settle for a point either… they could smell blood and wanted to win this game and felt they deserved it, which meant we needed to score.
I can reel off so many words to describe this performance, but I’d end up going on all day, so here’s just a few… courage, character, bravery, resilience, will to win, fight, desire, never say die, mental strength, team spirit, unity and not knowing when they’re beaten.
Scarlett Hanharan sent a through ball into the path of Chloe who had been threatening to score all afternoon and she raced away and kept herself nice and composed before coolly slotting into the bottom corner. A great finish and remarkably we had the lead with still a good 20 minutes to play.
Oxford inevitably had a lot of the ball and put a lot of pressure on us in the closing stages of the game, but we held on strong and the players covered every blade of grass and made every tackle and block they needed to make to keep the ball out of the net. In the dying moments however, it looked like they’d got an equaliser when a shot flew through a body of players and had Sylvia flying down to her left to make a save that she pushed agonisingly onto the post. It really looked like it was in, but we held on and although we had some hairy moments, I just sensed it was going to be our day.
I am still almost speechless by this display and what I saw but luckily I’m not and I’m able to tell those players that they have every right to be proud of themselves and that if any person connected with the Hoops would have seen this performance, they’d be talking about it for years and years to come.
We had some fabulous performances, all over the pitch at times, but special mentions must go to Chloe Julien who put in an astonishing display up front, full of commitment, grit and desire. Her drive and energy carried the team through, particularly in those last 25 minutes where she showed terrific leadership. She told me at half-time that she was desperate to score and she thoroughly deserved her goal and what a winner it turned out to be.
Then we had Melanie Randall, who put in her best performance of the season at the back and won every tackle she went for no matter what, but unfortunately picked up a bad knock to her face but showed the type of Captain she is by trying her hardest to convince us she could carry on!
I thought Jade Bowley and Kesleigh caused Oxford plenty of problems for the opposition down the wides and never stopped working and Allana proved what a handful she can be for any defence in the division taking her goal tally to 20 for the season. Jade Creighton and Scarlett grew and grew as the game went on, progressively getting better and more involved and gradually worked out the midfield area to give us dominance when it mattered.
The entire defence, particularly in the second half, stood firm like a rock and defended for their lives throwing themselves in the way of everything and galvanising the rest of the team in the closing stages as we dug deep into the trenches and looked to hold on.
And finally a special mention to Slyvia Williams… a goalkeeper who had the strangest debut imaginable by coming on outfield, up front, and finding herself in front of goal and nearly giving us the lead before having to go in goal due to Jess hurting her ankle. It takes marvellous character and focus to switch positions so radically and yet she did so effortlessly, showing such safe hands with some fine catches and made the crucial save right at the depth that hit the post and ensured we came away with all three points.
I told the players at half-time that historically we seemed to play better in the second period and come on strong and that’s the one thing I have always been impressed with them about… but I never expected to see this. Several of them were out on their feet by the end and this win was nothing to do with us as coaches on the sidelines. This was down to the players. Sure we can give them instructions and try to help them with information, but this was their victory and they earned it for each other and themselves.
There is still plenty for us to work on though and I saw lots of little things we can work on that will make us a better team and we must not forget that we can’t always have days like these or start slowly before progressively getting better during the match.
But I have nothing but admiration for their effort on the day and came away elated, buzzing and proud as punch. It was a really gutsy performance and one that I feel very humbled to have witnessed.
Well done ladies… utterly breathtaking.
