Carlsberg don’t do girls’ football, but if they did………….they’d come a resounding second to the mighty, formidable and downright brilliant Reading Girls Blues!

Today’s performance against the slippery, trickery Dolphins of Frimley was awesome on so many different levels; the first thirty minutes saw fantastic Blues put in a stubbornly stout performance; the second thirty minutes was a superb rum and coke of a display – loads of spirit mixed with plenty of fizz and sparkle.

Blues were up and at ‘em from opening time, eager to right the wrong of a few weeks ago when, with 90% of the play we found the bar well and truly closed.

Sophie and Alice were their usual lively selves, twisting, turning and tormenting the visitors at every opportunity. Beth showed great tenacity and fortitude up front and immense bravery by standing so close to the keeper to prevent her kicking the ball – this she did without a single whine, a display of stoicism well beyond her young age.

Dolphins, lining up their doubles in a two-two-two formation looked dangerous on the break; Katie and Georgia had to keep their wits about them, ever alert and vigilant. Lisa had to be quick on her toes and saved bravely at the feet of a Dolphin forward.

The breakthrough came with a baccardi breezer of a run by Sophie that saw her carry the ball into the area before downing an unstoppable shot. Get gin there! One – nil to the super Blues! It was just the tonic we were after.

The visitors now raised their game and, shortly before the break, levelled the score with a ferocious drive. Ouch!

‘Vod ka do you drive?’ an enquiring Russian asked Tom during the interval.
‘BMW,’ Tom replied.
‘Schnapps, me too!’ said a passing German.
‘Don’t mind if I do,’ hiccoughed Tom.

The second half saw a more refined Blues dominate the game. Stronger in every department, Sophie and Alice got behind Dolphins’ defence, winning corner after corner which Tayla fired across the area. Jimmy came close to restoring the lead, her effort narrowly going wide. Victoria battled hard and Niamh put in her customary solid performance to keep the visitors at bay.

Try as they might, Blues could not find that all elusive second goal and with last orders well and truly rung the game seemed destined to finish in a draw. Then up stepped Tayla to bury a loose ball. Be cider self with joy she turned triumphantly to acknowledge the jubilant crowd.

As the seconds ticked a way, the referee glanced at his timepiece and seeing it was pimms o’clock called time.

These hard-fought, well-earned three points sees Blues climb to third in the table. With seven games still to go and twenty-one points to play for there’s only one place where more ale and hearty displays like this will take us.

Come on you Blues!

Lisa, Katie, Georgia, Sophie, Victoria, Alice, Beth, Niamh, Jimmy, Tayla

TWJ