Blood, sweat and years

AFC Waverton 3 - Wirral Hawks 8 

A nice Spring morning (at last) welcomed the 2012/13 League Champions Wirral Hawks to Waverton, for our final League game of the season. Three weeks ago the Queens Field was a mud bath, this week it looked almost like a football pitch again.

With Kiera and Kenzie away enjoying themselves, and Emma's shoulder popping like popcorn in the Cinema, we had 8 not so little now Wavertonesses out on duty. Meg started as sub, and so the 7 lined up in traditional formation:
Lucie in the sticks, a back two of Ellie and Lily, a middle three of Annaliese, Rebecca and Courteny and Captain for the day Caitlin up front.

Lucie was torn between two sets of gloves. Should she go for the nice black LFC pair but which were a bit slippy or should she go for the mens sized ones with more grip? Tough choice. The solution was, in typical Lucie experimental style, - one of each.

Waverton kicked off with the sun behind them and with the sun on their backs it was all good on the Waverton field. Pretty even for the first five and then a great move saw Caitlin free on the left and bang it in the back of the net and wahey, the Waverton girls were ahead.

Wirral Hawks are strong though and a failure to clear he ball properly gave them a goal, but a delightful move involving Annaliese and a lovely flick from Caitlin presented Courteny with a chance to score, and she didn't disappoint.  A second Hawks goal came directly from a corner, but it was pretty even overall. Ellie had a great long range high shot which dipped and only just flew over the crossbar. Meg nearly got her first Waverton goal after one of her surging runs down the right.

Hawks got a goal back just before half time but in trying to save it, Lucie got the ball whacked in her face with her nose taking the full brunt of it. Blood came streaming down her face and she sat down through half time holding a bandage against her nose. Annaliese got ready to go in goal but Lucie being Lucie wasn't going to give in and got up laughing (!) and said she was fit and ready to go.

In the second half the Hawks showed their strength but another Caitlin shot flew into the net. Lily playing in the midfield for part of the second half got through one on one, but tried a left foot shot and scuffed it wide. Lucie made some brilliant saves, and Waverton were unlucky not to score more. A number of corners proved dangerous for the Hawks defence and a few shots flew past the post on the wrong side.

The girls tired near the end, but it was a great game of football and a fitting final home game. Caitlin was voted player of the match but there were so many good performances. Lucie was so brave as we have come to expect, Ellie strong and so fast at the back and caught all those who went past her. Meg is  probably as fact as Ellie, maybe quicker and again she can catch and tackle players who have a couple of yards on her. Rebecca was industrious as ever and Annaliese showed some great touches to set up some attacks and delivered a perfect corner when it was needed. Lily was awesome in defence, knowing just where to be and when to tackle. Courteny worked so hard, deserved her goal and has improved tremendously in her short time with us, a player to watch for the future and a real handful for opponents. Caitlin again showed she knows where the goal is and teamed up really well with Courteny going forward.

And that was it. All the years we have been playing games on the Queen Field and this was the last one for the current team in Wallasey League. A nice ending with a match when the girls gave everything and twice had the lead against the runaway Champions. The football was as warming as the Spring sunshine.

Thanks to the supporters and a special thanks to Robin for stepping in to referee.

Next Saturday we are away, in the Semi Final of the Cup, to Birkenhead at the Delph in Wallasey ko 9:30. If we win, we will be in the final, but our games against Birkenhead have been close over the last two seasons so a tough game awaits. Training takes place this Wednesday at WAVERTON not Old Hall, 7-8.