Birkdale United AFC

The boys arrived early, full of anticipation and a great will to win this game . Young Pritchard took the warm up. It was a warm up with a difference, run as far away from the manager as possible find a tree and climb it. Fantastic, well done…

Our third game of the season and only the third match the girls have played together as a team. The parents had high hopes for this game as the girls were starting to gel as a team.

It was a determined start to the match for the Birkdale girls, with a near goal within the first few minutes . Birkdale Girls dominated the game in the first half, the defence were strong and the midfield kept blocking and getting the ball back up to Burscough’s half but after quite a few good passes and shots from the forwards it wasn’t for going into the back of the net. Then seconds before half time out of nowhere Burscough managed to sneak in a well-taken goal.

The second half started with McGuire the goalkeeper not being able to play due to a wrist injury. Emily did a great job replacing her in goal. Again Birkdale played a great second half but could not get the ball into the net.

A great match by both teams but an unfortunate 1-0 defeat to Birkdale.

Well done girls, we all enjoyed the match.

Player of the Match: C. MacBeth

The game got under way on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. Birkdale girls struggled at first to get out of their own half as Athletico pressed, but the defence of G Cunliffe, E Core and C Mentha and keeper E Harrison stood firm, and eventually the game evened out. Birkdale, however looked out of sorts. The deadlock was broken by an accidental own goal by a Birkdale player who was trying to block a shot which deflected into the net. The midfield of L Smith, T Elliot, R Hubbard and C Molyneux - with V Grocott coming on as sub - battled hard but the game was narrow with little width. Soon Birkdale applied some good pressure resulting in a great long range effort from R Hubbard which made the score line 1-1.

The second half commenced with Birkdale playing slightly better but still far from their best. L Edmondson had a couple of good chances after managing to lose the two defenders who where constantly marking her. More substitutions rolled on and off with the introduction of A Welford. Birkdale began to look tired, several girls had been on the sick list  that week and some right up until the day before the match. I believe that this contributed to the eventual result. During the second half both teams had their chances but most notably Athletico had two very good shots forcing one fine and one outstanding save from keeper E Harrison. It wasn’t to be Birkdale’s day today though, as they conceded with only a couple of minutes left to play making it 2-1. Although they threw everything into the remaining minutes  pushing A Welford up front and nearly equalised, it wasn’t to be. The game closed 2-1 to Athletico.

The last of the midweek game away to Redgate and Birkdale looked sharp from the kick-off with Oyebola (3),Welford (2), Casterton  (1) and O`Neil (1) all on the score sheet. After some bad errors in our last game at the back the defenders of Locklon, Huyton, Soyer and Colocott where all solid at the back and dealt with everything Redgate threw at them, and also Ross in goal for Birkdale was first class. Well done everyone.