Sunday September 20th Away to Sandhurst Town

Sandhurst Town v Reading Girls  3-7

After last weeks defeat to Fleet this was a must win game for Reading, we couldn’t afford another defeat if we were to keep our hopes of winning the league.

Team News:  4-2-3-1 (Gk) Sophie G, (DR) Nicole R, (LB) Georgia C, (CB) Harriett R, (CB) Bobby L, (DM) Bianca R, (DM) Becky K, (AMR) Chloe M, (AML) Louise C, (AMC) Katie W, (CF) Nicole S.  SUBS: Katie M, Georgia G, Charlie B.

Players missing from today’s Line up were Lisa S, Rachel K, Gurneet C, Charlotte R & Sophie L.

First Half

Reading started the half fast and very quickly took the lead Bianca R, played ball between the 2 Sandhurst CB’s and Nicole S ran on and placed her shot bottom right 1-0 after 3 mins. Soon after that a repeat pass this time from Becky K saw Katie W run through and drill her shot passed the keeper 2-0 up 8 mins gone.
10 mins to the first half Reading were 3-0 up, Georgia C curled in inviting corner which Katie W scored here second goal with a great header buried top right.
15 mins gone and it was 4-0 Nicole S ran onto Chloe M through ball lobbed the keeper from the edge of the area great finish. As you can imagine 15 mins gone and we were 4-0 up the girls got a little over confident and started to let Sandhurst back into the game. Sandhurst went close twice hitting the post and the bar this was the wake up call they needed. Katie W played the ball through to Nicole S, Nicole beat the player on the edge of the box but was brought down by the next in the area ref gave a penalty. Seeing as Katie W, was on a hattrick she seemed the natural choice for the kick but the keeper made a great save forcing the ball over the bar for a corner.
From the resulting corner by Georgia C the keeper pushed ball out to Katie W who smashed it home and claimed her first hattrick of the season 5-0, 35 mins played.
Then just before halftime we witnessed the goal of the game a direct freekick 25 yards from goal curled into the top right hand corner hitting the underside of the bar on its way scored by freekick specialist Georgia C 6-0, 40 mins played.
Then a moment of madness from the Sophie in the Reading goal gave the home team the opportunity to pull one back from the penalty spot which they did. Halftime was an impressive 6-1 to Reading.

Second Half

The second half saw a much more aggressive Sandhurst team as they tried to ruin and break up our passing game, the girls hadn’t had to deal with this kind of rough treatment so it would be a good test for them.
5 mins into the 2nd half the score was 7-1 as Nicole S was played in by Georgia G, Nicole rounded the keeper and scored to recorded her first hattrick of the season as well.
The game then become stuck in the midfield with neither team gaining any advantage, Sandhurst edging the game due to becoming more physical. Towards the end of the 2nd half Sandhurst scored 2 consolation goals to make the score a 7-3 away win for Reading.

Summary

The first half performance was good although in my opinion it never reached the level we played at against Fleet. We looked like a team that played within themselves if needed I sure we could have raised our game a few notches.
At the last minute Sandhurst changed pitches to a very small 11 aside pitch, with the aim of stopping us from playing, first half it didn’t work we played without fear and scored almost at will but 2nd half giving credit to Sandhurst they out fought us. This is something that as a team we will have to deal with.

No game next week. We are away to South Park Girls in 2 weeks.

Thanks

Craig Gareppo
Reading Under 18’s