U14 Girls win Premier League Finals

The U14 girls arrived in Woking in high spirits, knowing they had a tough couple of games ahead of them. The semi final against Surbiton started well and Lana Wallis opened the scoring with a bit of a goal mouth scramble. This seemed to settle the Marlow side and goal machine Sarah Pearce soon made it 2-0 after being slipped the ball from a run by Molly Griffiths. Before half time, Miranda Coombs made the scoreline 3-0. After a half time talk from coach Kate Porter, telling the girls to keep up the pressure, the second half started strong again for the reds of Marlow. The Surbiton side tried to find a way though but the solid defence of Helen Windsor and Collette Staadecker were not proving easy to be beaten. With JP controlling the middle of the pitch, and the midfielders Lana Wallis, Luisa Northing and Mia Rogers making runs through the Surbiton side, the reds were totally in control of the match. Captain Ellie Yeomans being as tenacious as ever up front and proving difficult for the defenders to handle. The Marlow forwards of Alice Atkinson, Saskia Enderby, Maddie Hill, Miranda Coombs, Sarah Pearce and Ellie Yeomans were swapped frequently to ensure there was no let up for Surbiton. Mid way through the second half, Marlow found the net again with a well practiced short corner routine, finished by Luisa Northing. Marlow were using left and right to attack and using wing backs, Molly Griffiths, Flo Braybrooke and Sophie Bowen-Evans to stretch the Surbiton team. The match finished 4-0 and the girls were through to the final.

The final was against Canterbury, another National League club with a large junior section. The game started with end to end movement of the ball but no real opportunities for either side. Mid way through the first half, Canterbury found a way though on the break and slipped the ball into the Marlow goal. The Marlow side immediately applied pressure at the other end and a few minutes later were rewarded with a goal from Miranda Coombs to make the score 1-1. In the second half, a few tactical changes were made and captain Ellie Yeomans was moved to the defence to add to our pace for any breakthroughs Canterbury made. The Canterbury keeper was proving hard to beat for a second time and after another break Canterbury were awarded a short corner which they converted quite cleanly to again take the lead. There was under 10 minutes of the match remaining and Marlow knew they just had to keep going. Saskia Enderby passed to Sarah Pearce who took the ball into the D and reversed flicked passed the keeper to bring the game level once more. Canterbury pushed again and were awarded a penalty flick with 3 minutes to go. The flick was well taken but experienced keeper Mia Lasocki could read the player and nudged the ball passed the post with her left pad - this gave all the team an extra burst of energy it seemed. Into the last minute and with the words of coach Porter ringing in all 11 players ears ("you have to play until the final whistle....") the ball was loose and nudged by JP passed one defender, she stretched and just lifted the ball enough with all her strength passed the last Canterbury defender, into the D and Sarah Pearce was there with perfect timing to smash the ball passed the keeper into the Canterbury goal. Play started again and Canterbury moved forward but the Marlow defence held strong and we were back in our attacking half when the welcome sound of the final whistle was heard. MARLOW WERE LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!