 After the success of Barcelona and the glory of Teddington the u12 girls faced one more test before the Christmas break...
On a dim, chilly Sunday morning the foggy Surbiton environs greeted the Guildford U12s.
The girls took part in the aptly named Tony Smith tournament in the Plate competition. The tournament is attended by many of the best teams around the South and is aimed at the u13 age group but many teams play a mixture of ages / abilities and it’s an enjoyable day.
Group games
Our group saw us start very well against Surbiton Swans and passed the ball with a lot of width from Jasmine and Rosie at the back and pace down the flanks via Georgia and Rosalie. Imo did well in the middle and was well supported by Bella and Ruby and Emily worked very hard up front. The goals were shared across the team with Emily and Georgia grabbing a couple. Poppy wasn’t troubled too much in goal due to us dominating possession. She would be tested later in the day!!
Next up was a solid 1-0 win against Wayfarers. We started brightly again but faced a strong team and Poppy was forced to make a couple of good saves. We then managed to sneak a goal via Emily and held out for a deserved win. Marking was solid in this game and all the girls worked hard for the win.
The 3rd game saw us play Old Loughtonians and we managed to pass the ball with some width again. Georgia and Roslie made good ground down the flanks and managed a series of crosses to Ruby and Emily as the centre forward. We could have scored a few more but all in all a solid performance.
Semi & Final
The girls then faced a decent Ashford team with some u13 girls who were big and fast. We started brightly and managed to score a good goal but were then hit on the break and Ashford drew level. Marking improved and Emily added an edge in attack to then make it 2-1 with some dogged chasing down of the opposition defenders and a good finish. Onward and upward to the final.
Sevenoaks were a decent team and also passed the ball well. But the GHC team managed to keep the energy level high despite some severe colds and we chased every ball and harried the defenders. After going 2 nil up we conceded one goal but always looked in control. We scored one more to make it a solid 3-1 win.
All in all a excellent effort from the girls at the end of a tiring term at school and a busy first half of the season. The girls were very excited to win the Plate and collect the award from the Surbiton Ladies skipper Sarah Haycroft. More silverware for the u12 girls after an amazing few weeks. To come 2nd in Barcelona and win at Teddington with 2 teams out on the same day was an amazing effort. It was nice to follow that success a week later with another piece of silverware.
Thanks to Vanessa on the day for all her coaching and help with the girls. Huge thanks to Tony and all the coaching team for their work that has gone in over the last few months. We now can rest over Xmas and come back fresh in Jan for the challenge ahead.
Have a good Xmas break!!
Coaches – Vanessa Alexander & James Relph
Squad – Poppy, Rosie, Jasmine, Imogen, Rosalie, Ruby, Emily, Bella, Georgia
Results:
v Surbiton Swans - 5-0 WIN
v London Wayfarers - 1-0 WIN
v Old Loughts - 2-0 WIN
Semi final….
v Ashford - 2-1 WIN
Final…
v Sevenoaks - 3-1 WIN | 
