With horizontal sleet at times both Workington Diamonds & Whitehaven U12 Yellows played out an entertaining derby in the CFA County Trophy with Diamonds coming out on top!
Diamonds got off to the perfect start scoring within the first 2 minutes to make it 1-0, after the Whitehaven defence was at 6s & 7s and unable to cope with the quick start by Diamonds, this score was doubled shortly after. However a change in defence between Molly Butler & Lilia Gill swapping sides, stopped the early onslaught as Whitehaven showed bravery to wrestle control back, and once they had got a bit of a footing in the game, the Whitehaven lasses were able to start to impose some attacks themselves.
Molly Butler was now looking much more assured on the right, linking up with her central mid and wing partners very well and this confidence was also seen on the other side from Lilia Gill who is having her best season in a Whitehaven shirt. Lilia was good at playing out and supporting the winger, on many occasions overlapping and becoming the winger and being very dangerous.
Destiny Campbell was linking up really well with Ava Greeson on the right side and the crossing power of Destiny Campbell was really threatening the goal, with a number of crosses causing real danger and the Whitehaven team were unlucky not to get a goal. Destiny also kept finding space and if not for some good goalkeeping she could’ve grabbed a goal herself.
The pressure continued and soon Whitehaven won a corner, and when the left foot wizard that is Katie Henshaw put an in swinging corner in, it was hot to handle and Diamonds were unfortunate to give an OG, through no fault of the player, just a real wicked cross.
The Whitehaven girls took confidence from this and Ava Greeson was now everywhere on the pitch that it looked like was more than one of her, linking up with Captain Sophie McKee, who is a real treasure as a player now, very able footballer with both feet and if not for the bar and once again superb goalkeeping the game could’ve been equal.
However Diamonds were really good at counter attacking and the positions they took up were superb for all the hard work that Whitehaven had put in, they just couldn’t cope with the movement and clinical finishing meaning Diamonds netted 3 further goals before half time.
Oakley Hocking came in on defence, Oakley who only started playing football for the first time 5 months ago gave a real good account of herself, chasing attackers down and one really good aspect of her game, her passing was really on point today and she can be very proud of her efforts.
Sophia Conway also came on for Katie Henshaw and Sophia this season has been a real rising star in the Yellows, wowing the coaches many times, and was no different today, her new found attidude to never giving up and chasing everything is amazing and she hunted the ball constantly which allowed further attacks for Whitehaven as when she won it she linked up with team mates really well, once again Whitehaven playing very good on the eye football but just not getting the goals they very much deserved.
Half Time came and it was Diamonds who came out the better team after the break, Tilly Gregg standing firm against a number of attacks from Diamonds and never giving up, and when she won it trying to play out very well. Diamonds however continued to press and managed to bag a further 3 goals.
However very much like the first half, after these goals the team started to play good football again, Kacey McGarry in goals stoping the goals now and making some excellent saves. Kacey is in her first season with the team and had become a real asset to the girls. Now the girls were building from the back again and finding good spaces, Katie Henshaw with her wand of a left foot was driving forward with the ball to the bye line and making great crosses that just couldn’t be converted, so in the end Katie took it upon herself to deliver a cracking goal to pull one back.
Shortly after Girl of the Game and Captain Sophie McKee who was devastating all day received the ball in central midfield and had a 3v2 situation, and with both wingers pulling wide it opened up for her to smash it into the corner to pull another one back. Abbie Kegg was hustling the Diamonds defence, holding the ball up at times and linking beautifully with her team mates, and had a number of shots as Whitehaven looked to get further goals.
However the theme continued and Diamonds put a number of attacks together which were so hard to stop meaning they wrapped the game up 10-3.
Ava Greeson was given Girl of the Game from the Whitehaven Coaches, just a little pocket of energy, and linking brilliantly with team mates, some of her passing in the game was really high quality stuff and she can be very proud of her efforts.
Girl of the Game chosen by Diamonds was for Destiny Campbell, who did a great game, in all aspects and was really unlucky not to score from some cracking shots, lots of punch in her shooting from distance.
Coach Rob Campbell said ‘I was really proud of the girls today, yes there are things we need to improve on, but as a good coach in this club i heard say once, you never lose, just learn, and I know the girls will from this. I’ve watched us win games and not play anywhere near as good as today, so I can’t be disappointed at all in them, if anything they have even more respect from me for trying to play a good style of football against a formidable opponent. I’d like to wish Diamonds all the very best in the next round and hope they do well, they were very good and great infront of goal, with their number 6 playing extremely well.’