Wildcats U16s go down fighting

Wildcats U16s 2, Wembdon U16s 7

Only one fixture for our Wildcats girls survived the weather on Saturday with the U16s hosting Wembdon at Court Fields.

Prior to the game, a minute’s silence was observed in memory of team sponsor Alison Mundy, co-founder of Mundy Veneer Ltd, who sadly passed away recently after a long illness.

Wildcats, who were able to field a full team for the first time in six weeks, welcomed back Amy Morrow and Bethany Harber from long term injuries while Freddie Heselden was making her first appearance of the season.

They started brightly and were more than holding their own against the league leaders, testing the keeper on a couple of occasions before Wembdon took the lead on 17 minutes.

Wildcats levelled almost immediately through last season’s top scorer Harber.

The next 15 minutes were very even with both teams having chances to take the lead, but, after scoring two goals in the last five minutes, it was Wembdon who led 3-1 at the break.

Wildcats were unable to gain any real momentum in the second half, limited to a couple of half-chances in attack, while at the other end their defence was being well worked by the pacy opposition attack.

Wembdon scored three very good goals in the top corners to take the game away from Wildcats, who did grab a consolation goal through Harber, before the visitors rounded off the scoring late on.

Despite the defeat, Wildcats were competitive throughout the game and should be proud of their efforts against a very good Wembdon side.

Most encouraging for Wildcats was player availability, which hopefully bodes well for the remainder of the season.

With four games against teams in the bottom half of the division to come, they can still achieve a points improvement over last year, while also looking forward to a cup competition.

Player-of-the-day was Freddie Heselden, who was not only playing her first game this season, but also her first at right back.