23 January 2011 Olney Ladies 1 Appleton Stars 2 TVWL League match
Slightly awesome result for Appleton Stars Women as their first win in a competitive match, despite having only ten players against Olney’s eleven plus rolling subs.
Although we lost to Olney earlier this season we believed we could win this time, so we discarded the sweeper system and played 4-3-3 (actually 4-3-2 cos we were down a player), and decided on a tactic of aggressive pressing so Olney never could settle on the ball. This required a high back four so Leah shifted to defensive centre and used her pace to be an emergency sweeper to protect us against the long ball.
We got a lot of possession from this play, winning the ball in their half which created instant chances up front. This paid off when Marianna give us the lead midway through the half. There were near misses at either end, and we survived a couple of close direct free kicks near half time but went in ahead at the break which kept Olney dispirited.
The instruction at half time was to go out and do it all again. Simples.
However, the team managed it, cos midway in the second half Marianna scored her second to give us a two goal lead. The girls continued to have a lot of possession which was amazing given Olney were by then rolling the subs and getting fresh legs on. Midfield ran their socks off, and the back line stayed tight and at times robust ! Up front we gave them all sorts of problems with Marianna, Michelle, Kristina and Laura all running with the ball, and could have scored a third – I’m sure that on one occasion Marianna beat five players before shooting, then Kristina nearly scored after beating three.
On 80 minutes Olney scored on the break. This gave them encouragement and started lots of shouting from their support at the side, but Appleton retained a strong physical presence, getting in the tackles and making good clearances, so we held out despite the best pressure Olney put on us all match. Earlier in the season we were not as physical at this point in a match and would have let the other team roll over us. We currently have a good back line who know when to be composed but also when to just get stuck in and spoil the play.
You have to hand it to the girls who played 90 minutes outnumbered on a sticky pitch, but never ever looked tired (well no-one collapsed). My apologies for shouting so much, especially to Jenna (who stuck to defensive midfield admirably) who now is deaf in one ear. I’m sure our GK told me to go forth and multiply once or twice but I don’t care cos WE WON !
Lots of contenders for man of the match; obviously Marianna for numerous mazy runs up front, plus scoring our goals. But my tick on the card went next to Emma Quarterman, who played 90 minutes whilst hobbling with injuries, never complained once, and never made a mistake – brilliant. If we had had eleven players I’m sure we would have won by several goals, but if reduced to nine then we would never have won that match, so thanks to Emma for not dropping out which she could easily have done.
8 January 2011 Stanford in the Vale Reserves vs Appleton Stars NBFL League match
SITV Reserves 3 - 5 Appleton Stars
No fluke as Appleton achieved their first win in the NBFL. Playing a 4-4-2 instead of the usual 4-5-1, and with the usual wingers (Josh King & Michael Catherall) as a central pairing up front, Appleton played effective football from the start and gained an early lead through Josh King with a fine individual effort drifting in from wide past several players before beating the goalie at short range. This was cancelled out by a good SITV goal from 30 yards, but the Appleton central midfield of Wes Mackellar and Wayne Budizisweski continued to support the front pair and Wayne gave Appleton the lead again with a shot from outside the area. SITV again equalised with a goal on the break, then Wayne Budizisweski headed in at the far post from a corner to make it 3-2 for Appleton with about ten minutes of the first half to go. Appleton were settling for just being ahead at half time but Josh King popped up and scored again to give Appleton a two goal cushion at the break.
The second half was a bit more difficult for Appleton who had to dig in a bit and defend for long periods. The new wing pairing of Andy Hayward and Harpreet Punni did a lot of hard work on wide defensive duties. Maybe against the run of play, Appleton did a great counter attack - Josh King skillfully controlled a high clearance on the half way line and ran through to pass across goal for Andy Hayward to score, making it 5-2.
SITV pressure did pull one goal back but they did not have enough time to get closer.
The Appleton players performed well and stuck to task. The back four operated well as a unit during extended pressure. Special mention to goalie Paul Nuckley who made some excellent fingertip saves (Paul - one was definitely going wide). And extra special mention to coach Briony Mackellar who chose the right team, formation and tactics to win the match.