And so it was as Scotton started strongly with Emily and Chloe leading the attack, Grace and Jes in midfield and Georgina working alongside Lowenna in defence. Sam played in goal in the first half and she had plenty to do as Silsden were not here to be beaten easily.
Scotton started brightly with Chloe taking on a role between midfield and attack, putting in lots of hard work and delivering some great balls to Emily. Both Emily and Chloe had lots of chances but the Silsden 'keeper was, as usual, on top of her game and able to cope with everything that was on target but also had some close escapes as Emily hit the bar and the post in a dominant first ten minutes.
However, as the score remained at 0-0 Silsden grew in confidence and started to press forward. There were occasions where Scotton were caught with only 2 defenders against 3 Silsden attackers but both Lowenna and Georgina were able to cope no matter what was thrown at them. Molly replaced Lowenna and she also slotted in comfortably, as she usually does.
The midfield stepped up the work rate with Grace covering back and also pushing into attack when the opportunity was there. Jes was replaced by Jayde, making her first appearance for the U13's, and Scotton started to get a grip of the game again. This time the efforts were to be rewarded when Chloe put a great ball through the her strike partner and Emily had to be accurate to beat the impressive Silsden 'keeper into the bottom corner. There was still time for Chloe to again hit the bar with an audacious lob off the side of her foot and for Silsden to respond with a powerful shot the Sam had to tip over the bar to keep the score at 1-0 at half time.
The team were asked to continue with the effort levels of the first half but be more aware of the Silsden strikers in the second half. Jayde switched with Sam in goal and Sam took a place in midfield where her impressive contribution continued with terrific effort in attack and defence.
The second half was much like the first with Grace making herself busy in midfield and causing problems for the Silsden defence as well as covering back and frustrating their attack, Jes went on one or two pitch length runs and put in some great crosses from the left, Georgina and Lowenna both had to be at their best in defence and Molly played her now usual solid game wherever she was asked to play.
The two strikers combined again for the second goal with Emily's run and shot resulting in another terrific save by the Silsden 'keeper but this time Chloe's hard work was rewarded as she was on hand to pick up the spilled ball, round the keeper and slot the ball into the empty net.
There was still time for Silsden to push forward in the last 5 minutes so Jayde had to be alert to the increasing danger but in the end she was able to cope with everything that was thrown at her and pulled off a couple of impressive saves late on.
All-in-all this was a well balanced performance by the Scorchers, with us having to be creative and patient in attack and alert and strong in defence. Player of the match was difficult as there were outstanding performances from several players, including Lowenna who probably had one of her best games for the Scorchers, and Sam who played well in goal and also worked really hard in midfield and attack later on in the second half. But there were two players who really stood out and the player of the match was shared between them. Georgina was solid, determined and dominant in defence, even when Silsden had players over in attack, she made the right decisions and pressured the ball to ensure that there was no easy option for the Silsden attack, while Chloe at the other end ran herself into the ground, working hard and creating chance after chance for the team and herself in conditions that were energy sapping.
Well done to all the girls however, a good solid team performance.
