The U14s welcomed their old rivals Knaresborough Celtic to a rather soggy Percy Fields for their latest league fixture.
With their now familiar starting line (Georgia, Georgie, Molly and Ciara in attack, Ellie, Hannah, Becky S and Riah in defence and Jayde in goal) Scotton immediately pushed towards the Celtic end. Good play from the forwards saw a shot from Molly being followed a couple of minutes later by a first goal from Georgia.
Celtic responded from the restart with an attack of their own, but Scotton's defence quickly gained possession of the ball and pushed it back up the field. Once again the Scorchers found their way through the Celtic players and a near miss from Georgia was followed by another shot from Molly. The ball then came back to Georgie who ran in and delivered a great strike that brought the score to 2-0 just ten minutes into the match.
Once again Celtic came out strongly and moved purposefully towards Scotton's goal, only to lose the ball to Ellie and to then find themselves on the back foot as Georgia stormed down the pitch. Though play ebbed and flowed for a while Scotton's defence held firm and the ball was repeatedly pushed back up the field by well-timed passes from Ellie and Hannah or skilful sprints from Becky S on the left. Moreover the forwards continued to tighten the screw and to find positions from which to target the Celtic goal - first a shot from Molly sailed over the bar, then Georgie came close with another attempt, and finally a strike from Georgia saw the ball in the Celtic net for the third time.
As before the Knaresborough girls returned to the attack and put together a good sequence of play that led to a near miss a few minutes before half time. Immediately regaining possession they then obtained a free kick just in front of the Scorcher's goal, only to see their (well taken) strike deflected by the Scotton wall.
The second half commenced with Riah replacing Jayde in goal and Emma and Becky C coming on in defence.
Shortly into the half a goal kick from Ellie was gathered by Ciara and passed to Georgia who raced to the goal for another near miss. Play then ebbed and flowed for the next fifteen minutes until a good pass from Hannah found Georgie who ran in to beat the Celtic keeper and bring the score to 4-0.
With Scotton looking ever more confident Jayde and Katy came on for Ciara and Georgia and immediately contributed to the game, linking well with Molly and Georgie for several passages of good play that culminated in a goal from Jayde.
Despite now being 5-0 down the Celtic girls weren't ready to give up and a run from one of their forwards looked like it was going to end in a goal, but in the nick of time Hannah arrived to tackle her. A corner from Celtic then led to a scramble around Scotton's goal which looked dangerous, but a good save from Riah brought possession back to Scotton.
Molly was then subbed by Becky S. Working well together the two Beckys, Jayde and Katy continued to put pressure on Knaresborough, with a further shot from Jayde coming close to the goal. In the last few minutes Georgie, Becky C and Becky S put a lovely bit of play together that could well have resulted in another score if the final whistle hadn't blown.
This was a cracking team effort from the Scorchers, who largely dominated the game despite good play from the Celtic girls.
Player of the match (as voted by Celtic): Molly.
