MORAY GIRLS FOOTBALL CLUB

SWFA TESCO CUP

Moray girls Football Club entered two teams into the Tesco Cup for the first time at Stirling University on Saturday 18th April, one at U14 age group and one at U16s. With competition entries invited from across Scotland , the U14 Girls were drawn in a group with Hamilton , Dunfermline and Deeside. Unfortunately, Hamilton withdrew at the last minute and so Morays first game was against Dunfermline Girls.

The U16 fixtures schedule had also been changed as some teams had withdrawn therefore there were now had three groups rather than four. Moray U16s had been drawn with local club East End Girls FC, Hibernian FC, Kilmarnock FC, and Hamilton FC.

With the format of the U14 games being a single period of 25 minutes, possession was all-important and Moray had the better of the early play and the Girls back line of Mica Thomas, Lauren Anderson, Kayleigh Stalker and Jessica Moors protected Keryn Kirk in the Moray goal. Despite mounting some promising attacks building through the centre, with Carly Sewell and Michelle Mackintosh linking well, the deadlock wasn't broken until the twentieth minute when Sian Hughes fired in a shot from a great through ball from Hannah Slessor.

The match was put beyond Dunfermline 's reach three minutes later. Rebecca Wright delivered a superb corner which floated across the box. Kerry Macmillan, alert at the back post, launched herself at the ball and made enough contact to put the ball in the net. The Girls played out the rest of the match without their goal being threatened and finished strongly to take a 2 – 0 win.

Moray's second outing was against fellow North Region club Deeside Girls and was another tough battle with the play moving from end to end. With no substitutes available, every Moray player had to work to their absolute limit. Kirk made a vital save when Deeside broke through and, one on one with the advancing forward, bravely stood tall to block the shot. Almost immediately, the ball was played up field and Slessor made a strong run through the Deeside midfield. Her pass found Hughes who cut inside the defence and, under pressure, steered the ball into the net.

For the last five minutes, Deeside pushed forward to try and rescue the game but couldn't penetrate the Moray defence. The single goal gave the Girls their second win and earned them a semi-final place against Hibernian Girls. Moray would have to contest the semi with only ten players, as Hughes was ruled out of further participation having picked up an injury netting against Deeside. The Girls soaked up the early pressure and Kirk made a succession of great saves to keep Moray in the game, but their defence was breached after eight minutes by a delicate chip which couldn't be reached. A minute before half time Hibs scored again, benefiting from indecision in defence and although Kirk made another great diving save, which was warmly applauded by both sets of supporters, she could do nothing about the third goal seconds before the whistle blew. With injuries mounting up, Moray started the second half down but not out. The second period was every bit as hard as the first but the Girls battled well and only conceded one more goal before the final whistle.

Despite the result, Moray Girls can be proud of a tremendous team effort and a very brave performance. Reaching the semi-final in a competition of this standard is a great achievement and hopefully the Girls can continue in the same spirit in the league.

Unfortunately, Moray U16s struggled to perform in this tournament after a very early start and a mixture of U15 and U17 teams to provide an U16 squad, the squad did not win a single game. However, the girls enjoyed the tournament and have hopefully learnt from playing against other teams over the country. A tournament Moray looks forward to next year!

We would like to thank bus driver John Rodgers for a very comfortable and pleasant journey , Kineil Buses for providing a bus, all the parents, family and friends for their support throughout the day, and finally, to all coaches for their time and commitment.

To view or purchase photographs from the event please go to:

www.idealimages.co.uk
click on 'preview'
enter 'football' as the password
and '2009' as the pin.