The Satellites secured their 1st victory against a Premier division team in today’s friendly.
The game was played away in Richmond on a large bobbly pitch, which made playing high quality football very challenging. Churt Satellites took a full squad of 15 players to the game, with the injured Emily supporting the team from the sidelines. The strength in depth of the squad proved a real asset on this large pitch with the team being freshened with 3 rested players after every 17 minutes.
The whole game was stretched on the large pitch and the play moved from end-to-end as each team tried to find the opening goal.
The Satellites looked slightly the stronger team in the 1st half which end goalless. During the first 15 minutes of the match neither team created a clear chance to score, although the Satellites had an appeal for a penalty for handball after 10 minutes. The Satellites best chance came in the 25 minute when Hannah made a through ball to Ella who was 1 on 1 with the goaly and looked certain to score; unfortunately the ball bobbled up just as it was struck and the shot went wide of the left post. The Churt defence looked rock solid with Isobel, Tallula, Tia and Amy Thompson doing an excellent job preventing any shots at Tilly in goal.
The 2nd half was certainly more eventful than the 1st, and the home team started slightly stronger than the Satellites. They had a good 10 minute spell of pressure which the away team tried to soak up. After some good play down the right the ball was crossed into the Churt box after 45 minutes, and a Richmond Park player crashed a shot against the cross bar giving a relieved Tilly absolutely no chance to make a save. This close escape seemed to give the away team renewed energy who immediately went on the attack. After several close chances to score Phoebe broke the deadlock after 52 minutes with an assist for Amy O’Donnell, with Phoebe scoring her 1st goal for the team. Churt continued to attack and were rewarded with a 2nd goal after 59 minutes. Ella and Phoebe combined to pass the ball to Ruby. After a superb turn in the box Ruby calmly slotted the ball into the corner of the goal.
For the remainder of the game the Satellites did a fabulous job preserving their excellent defensiveness record over recent games. The team defended in numbers, made terrific tackles both inside and outside the penalty box and prevented any further shots at goal by the opposition. The midfield players (Liv, Lily, Martha, Ruby, Phoebe and Maisie) have been crucial to the results over recent games where we have outrun the opponents and ensured we have had sufficient numbers to defend around our penalty box.
The team have only conceded one goal in the last 3 games, despite being up against very strong opposition in of these matches.
Amy O’Donnell was awarded player of the match for a number of fantastic runs down the right wing and for assisting the 1st goal of the game.