After a long 4 hour drive down where the girls attempted to get some university work done, and a brief pit stop at burger king on the way, we finally arrived at Aberystwyth. The girls who had been squished on a mini bus all morning were condemned for more waiting around as the University’s abysmal organisation skills had led to no pitch being available for the girls, being sent into town to look at a waterlogged grass pitch for 20 minutes, then sent back for a delayed kick off of 3:45 on the astro. The first chance of the game came through a Millie freekick, which was tipped around the post by the keeper, and the following corner went over everyone. Aberystwyth are playing rather erratically to start the game flinging legs at the ball and not getting it down on the surface, leading to many Bristol throw-ins. Aberystwyth overhit a through ball giving Bristol a chance to attack, with a kick from Amy’s hands being chased down by Llio but eventually going out for an Aberystwyth goal kick. Annabel skilfully sees the ball out in our third, the smaller pitch length is meaning the ball is often being overhit. Aberystwyth keep attempting to play down their left hand side but Annie, Maya S and Llio press well together to shut down any advances. A silly foul given away in Aberystwyth’s half leads to a free kick to the opposition that is initially cleared, but then sent down the line, with their winger putting a low cross in that thankfully doesn’t find the feet of any player. Annie collects and clears up the line where a battle between Llio and their player-manager left back sees the ball go out and for words to be exchanged between Gaz and their 5 foot Emma Hayes wannabe, who leaves the exchange extremely rattled. Don’t mess with Gaz. An Aberystwyth goal kick is taken down by one of their players but not for long as Maya S picks her pocket and then nutmegs her before the ref gives a questionable free kick against us leading to two consecutive Aberystwyth corners and then another free kick near the corner, with the cross flicked on by a player at the back post, but an easy catch for keeper Amy. At the other end, their keeper keeps waiting to be closed down to pick the ball up, maybe because she needs to get her breath back before bending down, her long kicks have been causing problems however. A Bristol free kick right on the edge of their box hits the wall but then Millie manages to salvage a corner which is flicked on by Maya S to their back post to make it 1-0!! The lead is deserved as Aberystwyth have struggled to make it out of their own half and have been extremely quiet so far. Despite this, the next chance goes their way, calls for handball are ignored by the referee and their striker runs between our centre backs and gets a shot off but Amy tips it round the post. Maya S and Llio have been linking up brilliantly all half down the right hand side, and after chasing down a clearance from our defence, Llio plays the ball across the face of goal to an open Amelie at the back post who just narrowly misses, hitting the woodwork. Shortly after, the ref blows for the end of the half.
The first chance of the second half goes Aberystwyth’s way but fortunately for Bristol, their striker takes a heavy third touch and Amy is able to scoop the ball up from under them. The second half starts a little bit scrappy from Bristol with the ball being hit back and forth between teams but over time Bristol regain their dominance and control possession. A Bristol corner goes over everyone but Hannah picks it up at the far side and plays round a couple Aberystwyth players and gets a shot off on the edge of the box but it is blocked quite easily and then kicked out for a throw-in. Now a crowd of men who are also playing a sporting fixture against Aberystwyth have turned up and have become Bristol ultras, cheering for us and berating the ref for every decision to go our way. Although it's an away game, Bristol certainly have the stronger support on the sidelines. Amelie and Millie link up down the left hand side well with the ball in the oppositions corner then play it back to Georgie who wins a free kick, which goes wide. Maya S wins the ball back in the middle and lays it off to Hannah whose pass is loose; Maya SP salvages the chance using her body to win it back and lays it back to Maya S, but the shot is wayward and turns into a pass to Annie whose subsequent cross is collected by the goalkeeper. After collecting a later cross, the Aberystwyth goalkeeper rolls the ball out to her right back but good pressing by both Maya SP and Amelie leads to Maya SP hitting the post with her shot from the edge of the box. A throw down the line by Aberystwyth is intercepted by Annie but ends up at the feet of an opposition defender, they miskick their clearance however landing with Amelie on the edge of the box, who skips between two defenders and calmly slots the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0. After the goal, they put someone who can only be presumed to be an outfield player into the goal, a confusing decision, perhaps the goalkeeper who started had somewhere to be, or just needed a rest. Aberystwyth are struggling to make it out of their half with Maya S continually putting in amazing slide tackles to regain possession for Bristol in the midfield. Amelie hits an insane trivella through ball to Jet who is sadly caught offside, a brilliant debut for the 2s for Amelie though who has impressed with her ability to move the ball forward into the final third. Coldest baller. Despite this, she does give away a free kick by slide tackling through the back of an Aberystwyth player, but the ref dodgily blows his whistle whilst Amy is still on her post setting up the wall, but she is able to get across her goal to tip it over the bar anyway. The final chance of the game goes Bristol’s way with Bella flicking on Millie’s throw-in to Maya S who breaks the line with a diagonal ball to Jet who lays it back across to Maya S but the shot is blocked and rolls to the keeper. The final whistle blows with the score ending at 2-0 to Bristol, never properly threatened by the Aberystwyth attack and controlling possession throughout, maybe Gaz’s passing drills have finally made an impact. POTM goes to Maya Seleznyov, who captained the side today in Anna and Molly’s absence, for a commanding performance in midfield as well as scoring a great goal, properly stepping up when we needed her most. A brilliant performance from the entire team however, and very grateful to have four of the 3s with us today in order to fill out the squad, who were all able to come on and impact the game. Due to the delayed kick offs and laws about how long drivers can work, the team couldn’t celebrate for long, having to jump straight onto the minibus without even changing, what an eventful away trip it was…
POTM- Maya Seleznyov
Written by Amy Garrigan
