The Andover U14 Girls shine bright as they bring Fleet down to earth with a crash

Nerves were all a bit on edge as we arrived at Aldershot for what promised to be a tough match against Fleet, who sit at the top of the league currently unbeaten so far this season. Could their nemesis the Andover girls bring that unbeaten run to an end? Of course we could but it was not going to be easy!

With added pressure of the Hampshire U14 coach watching on and with the pre match pep talk ringing in their ears, the Andover girls immediately took the game to Fleet with an air of determination not witnessed to date.
The first few minutes were a bit messy with both sides weighing each other up and getting a measure of their opponents. However, Andover quickly asserted their authority at the 6 minute point wining a long corner that saw Polly pass the ball off to Tiana, who skilfully slotted it away. There was a mighty roar from the Andover support crew that shook the ground. Throughout the match they appeared to be having a shout off contest, which I think Lucy probably won hands down, but as she was stood next to me , I was not really able to hear anything else – not even my own voice!

Heart beating fast, but strangely confident, I watched on as the girls piled on the pressure whilst also defending like troopers. Ten minutes later Andover relieved a little more of the tension by taking it to 2-0 with a lovely break down the left wing from Liv who drove in to the D and pushed the ball passed an out stretched Fleet keeper to rattle the right hand side goal boards.

The next period saw the game toing and froing as neither side relented in their quest for the next goal. At one point T upended the Fleet keeper (a novelty as normally she is on the end of being upended) and plenty of great saves were made at both end, before Fleet finally broke the impasse with a cracking break from one of the Hampshire players carving through the defence and lifting the ball in to the corner of the net well out of Josie’s reach at the 26th minute. 2-1! Nerves starting to tingle again as both teams were very evenly matched.
However it was like a switch had been flicked and the Andover girls were offended by fleet clawing one back as immediately they broke back and within a minute had extended the lead once more with Martha slotting home a rebounded shot from Liv. But the 2 point lead was short lived as Fleet pulled another one back yet again from a carving attack from the same Hampshire player beating the defence and Josie. 3-2 at Half time was a great result, but too close for comfort.

Half time saw the usual sugar boost from the wine gums……

The next 25 minutes saw loads of action both ends and the most memorable was when there were two Fleet attackers left open in the Andover D and a long pass reached one of them……from out of nowhere Gwen appeared and guided them away from the goal and cleared the ball! A real heart in mouth moment seeing a moment of brilliance.

Polly broke the stalemate at the 50 minute point once again giving Andover a bit of a cushion and as we approached the last 3 minutes confidence built, but Lottie almost gave us the kiss of death from the side-lines with the comment “they can’t score enough now” as just seconds later the ball clattered in to the Andover net! Once again all it did was spur the Andover team on as from the restart the ball was perfectly passed between five Andover players as they charged up the pitch to be expertly finished off by T within a minute, to once again take us two goals a head and seal the victory.

A real nail biter of a match that saw the wonderful Andover girls absolutely shine. EVERY single player played their hearts out today and as a team delivered an absolutely brilliant team performance. Fleet's unbroken winning streak well and truly broken :-) Well done girls – no pressure for the rest of the season now - really!!!!!!

Fleets Players' players were Martha and Josie - well done.