Under-16 Progress in
National Cup
Tonight (Thursday
4th December) the under-16 girls’ came from behind to beat Helsby
High School 2-1 in round five of the Premier League School’s Cup. The victory saw
them through to the last-16 in the country.
Both teams
had chances inside the opening five minutes but it was CHS who came closest to opening
the scoring on five minutes, when Amy Rodgers saw her shot from 25 yards out deflected
just wide.
CHS
continued to find themselves in good positions but were unable to provide that clinical
finish with Helsby’s goalkeeper required on various occasions to collect CHS
crosses. Another, Lucy Wright cross was just behind Beth Jones, in the middle
of the area, who couldn’t direct her glancing header goalwards.
Helsby
looked threatening on the break but the away side could only manage shots from
outside the area, which did not cause CHS goalkeeper, Sian Wright too many
problems.
CHS had
their best chance of opening the scoring on 24 minutes. A Congleton corner,
from the left, resulted in Beth Jones firing over from close range. Her
reaction said it all, she knew she should have done better with her shot.
Four minutes
later, she had a chance to make up for her miss when she was through on goal but
her shot, from the left of centre, was straight at the onrushing goalkeeper.
Congleton
continued to try and break the deadlock and Lucy Wright found space inside the
area, in the final few minutes of the first half, but her rising shot, from 12 yards
out, was straight at the Helsby goalkeeper.
The final
piece of action of the first half was arguably one of CHS’ best pieces of play with
them playing with a much higher tempo, but the shot, from inside the area, went
over the crossbar.
Half-time-
Congleton 0-0 Helsby
CHS manger,
Mr Naylor decided to counter-act the problem of Helsby breaking by dropping
Lucy Wright into centre-back to sure up the CHS defence and also moved Zoe
Tweats into centre-midfield alongside Hollie Massey.
Mr Naylor
provided the half-time entertainment showing off his dance moves to Olly Murs’
new single ‘Wrapped Up’- if he wasn’t a PE teacher then I am sure he would have
made it as a backing dancer!
It is just a
shame that his dancing did not encourage CHS as it was Helsby who broke the
deadlock eight minutes into the second half. CHS’ high defensive line was
playing on the half-way line and Helsby’s number nine beat the offside trap
(although it was very tight) and saw herself through on goal. Lucy Wright did
brilliantly to recover and managed to stop Helsby’s forward but she could not get
a hard enough touch on the ball to clear the danger. Instead Helsby’s striker
showed great composure and her shot, from 14 yards, found the bottom corner.
CHS nearly
drew level, three minutes later, but Zoe Tweats placed shot from close range
was brilliantly pushed away from the goal by a low diving save by the Helsby
goalkeeper. Unfortunately, Beth Jones could not steer the rebound goalwards.
However, Congleton
were level two minutes later. Beth Jones’ shot was turned onto the post by the
goalkeeper’s feet before ricocheting off the goalkeeper and into the back of
the net. 1-1. Game On.
Helsby
nearly found themselves in front again when Lucy Wright miss-judged her header
on the half-way line, with the ball going backwards off her head. This allowed
Helsby’s striker to get behind the CHS defence and through on goal. However, player
of the match, Lydia Bennet did fantastic to get back and produce a goal saving block
to stop the striker’s shot before Lucy Wright recovered from her mistake to
clear the danger.
Bennet’s
block seemed even more important when CHS went in front for the first time in
the game one minute later. Amy Rodgers beat the last defender to the ball. All
she had to do was put the ball past the keeper (although this is harder said
than done) and she calmly rolled the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper from
the edge of the box and none of Helsby’s defenders could get back in time to
prevent Congleton taking the lead with just five minutes left.
Emma Nisbit
nearly sealed the victory and CHS’ place in the next round, two minutes from
time, but she saw her shot from the edge of the area go only a couple of feet
wide.
Full-time-
Congleton 2-1 Helsby
CHS showed
great character in turning the game on its head and deserved to go through to
the last-16 in the country where they face a home tie against St. Wilfrid’s Catholic
High School from Wakefield.
These two
teams will meet again in a few weeks time when CHS will travel to Helsby in the
Cheshire Trophy quarter-final.
Written by Adam Bailey
