On Thursday 28th September students from MYP 1,2, and 3 competed in Wotton House’s first ever all girls football match against Rendcomb College, Cirencester. The game was extremely competitive from the start with both teams displaying excellent skills and determination to win the game. Both teams started brightly as the game was going from end to end. Rendcomb College had opportunities on the counter attack after successfully managing the pressure applied by the Wotton House girls. However, any counter attacks were dealt with by the incredibly fast Bethany H who was able to chase back and dispossess any Rendcomb player of the ball before they managed to shoot.
As the game developed the Wotton House girls started to get on top of the possession statistics and it was 5 minutes before half time when Evelyn S broke free of the Rendcomb defence and scored a fantastically finished goal to make it 1-0 Wotton House. The remainder of the first half played out much like the remainder of the half with both teams battling it out in the middle section of the field with neither getting a clear cut chance to score.
Rendcomb College started the second half more promisingly, dominating the early possession and threatening to score. However, Evelyn B demonstrated excellent tactical nous and whenever danger seemed to appear Evelyn would calmly clear the ball off the field in order for the defence to regroup and organise.
Additionally, throughout the second half captain Julia M displayed excellent leadership qualities and lead from the front with her endless energy in defence and attack breaking up play when Rendcomb were attacking and starting a counter attack herself after dispossessing the opposition of the ball.
As the second half went on Wotton House continued to soak up the pressure applied by the Rendcomb girls, and the pressure nearly told when Rendcomb College were camped in the penalty area of Wotton House. With the game finally poised and Rendcomb College looking certain to score, Wendy Y produced 3 incredible instinctive saves to keep the game at 1-0. Following these saves, Wotton House managed to clear their lines and start to exert some pressure of their own and after a misplaced clearance by one of the Rendcomb College defenders Evelyn B noticed the Rendcomb College goalkeeper was off her line and took a long range shot that cleared the reaching arms of the goalkeeper and hit the back of the net! 2-0 Wotton House.
With only a few minutes left of the game and the result seemed to be secure, the Rendcomb college girls showed great character and resilience and continued to attack Wotton House. However, the Wotton House girls held strong and after dispossessing Rendcomb of the ball, launched a counter attack with Evelyn S putting the icing on the cake and scoring our third goal to polish off an incredible performance and make the score 3-0.
Player of the match (voted by Rendcomb college) - Julia M
