The new season is under way for our Wildcats girls’ section and here is a round-up of the opening games.
***
The newly-formed U11s girls’ league gave manager Nathan Sheehan and his Wildcats their first taste of playing league football, having only previously being able to compete in tournaments.
Welcoming a very competitive Wedmore team to Rockwell Green, on a superb pitch, it allowed both teams to play good football and demonstrate their skills which was really pleasing.
The end result was 2-0 to Wedmore but the girls put up a fantastic showing and Esme J was voted the player-of-the-match.
***
The U12s travelled to Minehead for their first game of the season.
Wellington had the better first half chances but failed to score and went into half-time at 0-0.
Quickly after the restart, Minehead found themselves 1-0 up but the Wildcat heads didn’t go down and, soon after, they pulled back an equaliser through Bella W.
The Wildcats then started to dominate and found the winner with ten minutes to play, with Bella adding her second goal to end the game 2-1.
Tallilah T was voted player-of-the-match from Minehead and the manger’s pick was Bella W.
***
The U13s were away to Wedmore for their season opener.
From the kick-off, the Wildcats played some good passing football with effective communication and got into the game but couldn’t find the breakthrough.
Wedmore got a foothold into the game and, after three fine saves by keeper Faith D, there was confusion in the box to allow the hosts an opening goal. Undeterred, the Wildcats kept up their work rate to go in at half-time 1-0 down.
Wedmore came out of the blocks fast in the second half to go 3-0 up, but carrying the fight straight back, Summer O made a break to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
After a foul in the box, the Wildcats had a penalty but the keeper made a fine save from Summer O and it went for a corner.
Wedmore took possession and made a great run back into the Wildcats half. A shot was initially saved but a mistake in the defence allowed them to add a fourth goal. In the final minutes Wedmore added a fifth, to end the game 5-1.
It was a challenge for the Wildcats, playing for the first time on a full size pitch and also having five players playing their first game.
But it was a really promising team performance and congratulations to Summer O for being nominated player of the match by both the opposition and the Wildcats.
***
The U14s made the trip to Axbridge for what promised to be physical encounter on a hot, muggy morning.
From the kick-off, the girls passed with accuracy and speed, and after three minutes, a cleared shot found defender Immy M taking a shot from 20 yards for a goal of the season contender.
From the restart, Wellington pressed again and Emilia S hit a shot from 18 yards to double the lead.
The game settled and Axbridge pulled one back via a fine counter attack to make it 2-1 at half-time.
Playing up hill in the second half, the Wildcats played forward at will and made good chances.
Emilia managed to score another two well worked goals to complete her hat-trick, and effectively kill off the game.
Changes were made to give other players chances in different positions and, although this allowed Axbridge back into the game, the Wildcats held on for a well-deserved 4-3 win.
Frankie P and Immy M had superb games, Lleya was voted player-of-the-match and Axbridge picked Emilia S and Darcy C.
It was a real team effort with everyone putting in a shift.