The game started brightly with Ella hitting the cross bar within the first 30 seconds and Maddie, who was playing in goal this week, being called into action at the other end not much later. Both sides showed a willingness to push forward and the defences on both sides had to be on top form. Luckily Molly, who had performed so well against the U13's last week, was on top of her game and along with Lowenna, who looked composed and comfortable on the left side of defence, and Ella working hard to track back when needed we looked solid at the back. In midfield Sam played alongside Ella with both girls working hard to cut out attacks from the strong Ilkley midfield.
Emily and Chloe needed to work hard up front and on 15 minutes this hard work paid off when Chloe picked up a loose ball, dropped her shoulder to send the defender the wrong way and finished superbly to open the scoring. The celebration showed how much the goal meant in a tight game but there were a lot of tired legs already as the sun started to take its toll.
Ilkely pushed on and Scotton started to make some changes with Georgina replacing the hard working Lowenna and Steph replacing Sam who was also feeling the effects of the efforts in midfield.
Ilkley's increased pressure eventually told when their striker worked a good ball in front of goal but was then well pressured by Georgina to take the ball to the side, away from danger. Ella came into help out but just as we thought the danger had passed, a neat turn and shot by their striker found the corner of the net to make it 1-1 at half time.
The girls were asked to step up the energy in the second half. Sam came on for Steph and was asked to really put in 10 minutes of hard work in midfield to try and nullify the danger, Lowenna also came on again and did a terrific job in defence to keep the strong Ilkley forward line at bay.
Emily continued to work hard up front, making some lovely runs into space and putting in some great balls into the danger area but we could not quite get enough bodies in the areas that could make these count. Midway through the second half a free kick was awarded for handball about 15 yards from goal and Emily powered her shot at the near post between the Ilkley wall and the post and found the back of the net. It was a great strike and, just like when we played Ilkely away in the league, the match winner was something special.
There was still plenty to defend and Maddie had to be on her game on two or three occasions but she was not to be beaten again and her clearances created several chances for the Scorchers to add another goal.
However Ilkley continued to push, Emily dropped back to help out the defence and right up to the final whistle there was tension in the match. However the Scorchers retained their composure and went through to the next round of the cup.
Player of the match was Emily for her hard work, great ball skills and super goal. Special mention also goes to Molly who played the full game in defence and probably had one of her best games for the Scorchers. Having said all that, the girls can all be proud of the way they played as a team and the great performance that they put in to beat a very good Ilkley side.
The less said about the friendly afterwards the better!
Thanks to Ilkley for another great game, played in a great spirit with some great performances on both sides.
