Birkdale United AFC

The next Managers’ Meeting will take place on Sunday 21st February at Southport and Birkdale Sports Club, Trafalgar Road, Birkdale, at 6:30pm. All managers should attend, apologies please to Club Secretary, Sharon Caul.

After a long lay off due to the bad weather and Christmas the girls were raring to go . A wet start to the day meant the pitch was perfect for football. The game started at a fast pace with both sides keen on winning the ball .Chances were few and far between with both sides cancelling each other out, with Birkdale maybe edging it.

The second half began as the first half did with Birkdale keen on winning the ball and starting to dominate the play The home side had many shots on goal, the best were from Elliot , Edmondson and Molyneux . The pressure continued and resulted in a corner which lead to a goal mouth scramble which Edmondson converted from close range to put the home side a goal to the good.

The pressure did not ease up from the home side and as a result of this a fantastic solo run from her own half saw Core score in the bottom left hand corner. The Crosby girls were understandably deflated by this, but tried their best to get back into the game. Unfortunately for them, the Diamonds were in particularly resolute mood today. It was a great result for the girls after all that time off, well done to both teams for a great game of football.

Player of the match : All the girls !

This game saw the meeting of the top two teams in the league, although it is fair to say that the game could have come at a better time for the visitors. They had been decimated by work commitments, injury and illness which left them with only 12 players, two of whom were making their debuts – namely McKenna and Reppion. A top of the table clash is never ideal for making a debut, although Noel and Dave had confidence in both players’ ability to perform. They were, however without Lloyd, Tuakli, Birnie, Waring, Corrigan, Gillingham, White and Griner, which meant that a number of people had to play in unfamiliar positions at times.

Both sides spent considerable time getting used to the playing surface, which with hindsight was probably not fit to be played on, certainly by the end of the game. A number of players lost their footing when going into challenges and this could have resulted in serious injury in a number of cases. Hesketh was particularly lucky to escape this as an onrushing striker lost her footing as she ran towards her, and she ended up with studmarks in her neck. Thankfully, she was alright to continue.

The game was reasonably even to begin with but the home side adjusted to the conditions (and the slope!) more quickly and they took advantage by scoring twice within a couple of minutes towards the end of the half. They were similar goals, right through the centre, and it was clear that the visitors had switched off after having  conceded the first.The visitors had found it tough going and had rarely threatened, although Cooper and Granby had a couple of decent efforts on target. However, they were also indebted to some great goalkeeping from Hesketh and some superb tackles from McEvoy and McKenna to keep the home side from adding to their lead, particularly with some debatable offside calls.

The second half could not have started worse, as Mossley increased their lead despite what appeared to be a clear offside in the build-up to the goal. The ladies let their heads go down a little and a good side like Mossley Hill will always take advantage, scoring two well-taken goals, although Noel was unhappy with the last as he felt that McEvoy was fouled immediately beforehand. It was becoming a little frustrating for the ladies with the conditions making things difficult, and also a number of key decisions not going their way.

However, great credit to all the players in that they became more resolute and grew stronger as the game went on, and got on the scoresheet twice to reflect their effort. Firstly, after Griffiths had been fouled on the edge of the area following an excellent run, Cooper hit an unstoppable free-kick which the keeper could only help into the goal. Then, Jackson picked up a pass from Griffiths, beat two players and curled in an excellent shot from the edge of the area with her left foot. It was a slight surprise to hear the final whistle sound immediately after the restart.

It has been a little frustrating that in the two games against Mossley Hill, Birkdale have not been able to field a full-strength squad, and unfortunately it told today. The conditions were very tiring and despite the girls best efforts, they were certainly beaten by the better side today. Noel and Dave were frustrated with the officiating which they felt had not seen them get the rub of the green, and the state of the pitch was not conducive to good football from either team. At times, however, the visitors had been too slow to close down attacking players, notably in the crucial area in front of their own defence.

There had been some positives to take from the game. The character of the players in responding to the setbacks they received was superb, while both debutants gave pleasing performances in trying circumstances and should take confidence from the speed at which they have fitted in. The workrate of every player was without question and it is not easy to play when you can’t actually see either of the far corners of the pitch because they are on a slope down a hill! Every player needs to think about what they did well, and what they need to improve on. So long as they act on the things they think they need to improve, then today’s game will have been a worthwhile experience. Well done, and thank you.

The Player of the Match, selected by Mossley Hill, went to M. Coulter.
The Managers’ Player of the Match went to S. Hesketh.

The team was Hesketh, Davidson, Coulter (c), Cooper, Dixon, Griffiths, Jackson, Granby, McEvoy, McKenna, Reppion and Ferguson.

Ainsdale were the visitors this Sunday. The game kicked off at good speed with both teams working hard. Ainsdale looked like they had come to keep Birkdale from scoring with numbers in defence and it took a penalty to make the breakthrough with Casterton slotting the ball home. Birkdale grew in confidence and Casterton made it 2-0 with a great goal from some good passing, and that was the score at half time.

Birkdale fell asleep at the start of the second half and Ainsdale got a goal back making it 2-1 and game on. With 10 minutes left Welford was put back on after his injury in the first half. He had a number of chances but the Ainsdale keeper was in fine form until he received the ball on the turn and hit it into the bottom corner for number 14 of the season making it  3-1 to Birkdale which was the final score. Well done everyone for a great game of football

The start of the game  had Burscough nearly grabbing an early goal but Birkdale quickly got into their game and kept getting the ball up into the Burscough box.  A few tussles in the box but no-one could get their foot behind it to get it into the back of the Burscough net.   After a great run by Birkdale it looked like we were going to score but the ball just went past the post.  Burscough then had a couple of good chances but our goalkeeper made a couple of brilliant saves and kept the score  0-0 at half time.

Going into the second half, the teams were quite equal so the match could either way.  The girls continued to battle hard and Birkdale had more chances than Burscough but it was a lucky goal that finally took Birkdale into the lead.  The Birkdale girls continued to put pressure on Burscough, though Burscough had a good shot in the last few minutes that had us holding our breaths.

Final score 1-0 to Birkdale.  It was a good game by both teams, well done girls.

Player of the match:  C. Carney – played a great game!

This wasour first home league game v Athletico but the second game running after last week’s Cup win against the same team. We knew it was going to be a very hard game but from the start Birkdale pushed forward testing Athletico`s defence on a number of occasions. Birkdale were keeping their shape a lot better this week and it paid off when Elliott again as last week took a few players on and stabbed the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 .Birkdale dominated the half and kept Athletico to one very well-hit long range shot but Harrison in goal made a very good save.

The second half was as the first with Birkdale dominating the game but the Athletico keeper and defence worked very hard and kept Birkdale at bay until some great work from Hubbard winning the ball and then some great team passing, which at the end found Core at the far post to finish the move making it 2-0 Birkdale. Athletico came back late on winning a penalty from a corner but it was hit wide. The final score could have been more but credit has to be given to Athleticos defence and keeper who played very well. Well done to the Diamonds today and it was good to see every player having a good run out - well done girls!