Liverpool Feds v Birkdale United
April 6th, 2010 by NoelWarham| Date: | Sunday 7th March 2010 |
| Location: | Jericho Lane, Liverpool |
| Result: | Liverpool Feds County Reserves (2) Birkdale United Ladies (2) |
After almost another month off, Birkdale made the trip to Liverpool to play Liverpool Feds with something of a defensive problem. Both McEvoy and Lloyd were unavailable, as well as one of the usual deputies, Tuakli. Noel and Dave opted to shift Davidson to the centre and ask Reppion to fill-in at right-back.
The visitors started well and put Feds under a lot of pressure, with Ferguson and Griffiths being very effective down the wings. However, too often the final ball was lacking a little bit and despite having all the early pressure they paid the ultimate price when Feds hit them on the break and the forward beat Hesketh with an excellent finish.
This caused a little disruption in the visitors’ ranks and Feds started to get a little bit of a foothold in the game. However, McKenna and White settled things down in defence and before long Birkdale started to get the upper hand, although they found the reolute defence of Feds very difficult to break down. Just when it seemed as though they were going to go in at half-time a little harshly behind, Waring took a quick throw-in to Cooper who turned and swept in an excellent cross which the onrushing Jackson finished sweetly to make the scores level just before the break.
The start of the second half saw the visitors on top, but they were unable to get their usual passing game going and in all honesty some players weren’t working as hard to get the ball back as they should. Feds looked very dangerous on the break and it took a good save from Hesketh to keep the scores level. As it was, Birkdale took a deserved lead when Cooper’s corner was only half-cleared to Reppion who hit a low, powerful shot through a crowd of players to notch not only her first goal for the club, but against her former team.
The visitors went looking for the killer third goal but through a mixture of good defending and poor finishing it never arrived, and instead Feds achieved what they had been threatening to do for a while and hit the visitors on the break. With players out of position and some others not working back hard enough, they outnumbered the defence with a quick break and the Feds forward chipped Hesketh beuatifully, leaving the Birkdale keeper with no chance.
There were a few half-chances for both sides but nothing clear-cut, and the game petered out into a 2-2 draw. Noel and Dave were a little disappointed with the team, feeling that their opponents had worked harder at times, and also that some players had not put enough thought into their play with too much long ball and hit and hope at times. They also need to use the wings more, as when they had, the play had been very effective. At times, they had played very well, but the result did not reflect their superiority of possession, and in future they need to make sure it does.
The Player of the Match, awarded by Liverpool Feds, went to A. Cooper.
The Managers’ Player of the Match went to G. Reppion.
The team was: Hesketh, Davidson, Coulter (c), McKenna, Reppion, Granby, Gillingham, Ferguson, Cooper. Jackson, Griffiths, White and Waring.
