Carmarthen 2XI v Risca 1XI
Posted by Nobody on 11 October 2019
On Saturday 5th October, Carmarthen 2XI welcomed Risca 1XI in their first home match of the season.
Both teams started strong, keen to keep possession and move the ball up the pitch towards their attacking ‘D’. Carmarthen’s forwards Siriol Richards, Sara Evans, Charlotte Harries and Thaia Davies made some promising play upfront and was unfortunate not to create any goals. Carmarthen were building up their play when a quick ball by Risca caught Carmarthen off guard and put them in the lead, 1-0.
Although this knocked Carmarthen’s confidence, they continued to keep the standard of play high and used their centre midfields Lili Church and Mirain Morgan to structure their play and transfer the ball out to the wings where the forwards were waiting, determined to drive the ball into the ‘D’. The play was very even in the first half which made Carmarthen’s defence work hard too with defenders Nia Sutton, Leia Thomas, Elinor Routley and Marianne Spratt work hard to stop the ball alongside goal keeper Lydia Pearson who came up with some brilliant saves to deny Risca goals. Despite this, Risca were very strong and managed to break Carmarthen’s defence to score a further two goals in the first half. The first half ended, 3-0.
Carmarthen felt disappointed after the first half not to get a well deserved goal, but after a inspiration half time talk by Coaches Jackie Marshall and Catrin Davies alongside Captain Harries, Carmarthen kept their heads high and went back into the second half fighting.
This second half displayed much better play from Carmarthen where they were fighting for the ball a lot more and coming to meet it. They kept their structure throughout with wingbacks Mari Davies and Kate Howell working tirelessly to connect the ball from the defence to the forwards to keep Carmarthen on the attack once again. Unfortunately throughout this half, strong Risca play allowed two unstoppable balls find the back of the net, impossible from keeper Pearson to save. This lead to the final score being 5-0 to Risca.
Carmarthen were disappointed with this result but knew this score did not reflect the game and Carmarthen were unlucky not to score at certain points throughout the game. They’ll take the positives out of this game as a learning opportunity to continue to push them to improve at this early stage of the season.
Carmarthen awarded their man of the match to Mirain Morgan for her ability to hold the game from the centre and keep structure throughout the game.
Risca awarded their man of the match to Siriol Richards for her ability to continue to drive the ball upfront to make promising play throughout.
Carmarthen will keep their heads up and are excited for a new game as they travel to play Whitchurch Valleys 1XI this Saturday for their second league game of the season.
