|
 Manager Richard Swan
February 28th - Away V Woburn Lionesses
Today we played a friendly away against Woburn Lionesses.
It was a gale on Aspley Heath.
No Ellie M, Abi or Charlotte so we played at 10 a side.
Beth started as keeper.
Henny put us 1 up.
We had loads of pressure and possession but could not add to this.
Laura went in goal + soon after we conceded a goal, she then made a very brave save.
Katie and Adie had a very strong half.
Henny got a 2nd and then immediately we conceded again as a wicked swerving shot eluded Laura.....
Henny got her Hat-trick soon after another break.
Ella made a good save as keeper.
Adie went in goal for the last 10 minutes and did well, Ella added a 4th after good persistance by Laura.
However, we saved the best till last as Charley wacked home a powerful drive from distance, she richly deserved this goal.
Final score Woburn 2 Toddington 5
Miss of the Match was a tough call, Henny bagged a hat-trick, Laura, Adie and Katie did well but it went to Charley for another excellent performance.
Bring on Flitwick!!!
January 28th - League Cup Quarter Final V Sacred Heart
"If we believe we can achieve....."
League Cup Quarter final vs Sacred Heart
We had a game plan and we stuck to it.
Super flowing football and lots of concentration mean't we absolutely dominated for the first half hour with Sacred Heart almost only getting out their half from kick off's....
Within 29 minutes we were 3 up.
Henny started us off with a cool finish after a thru ball from Ella.
Kristie added a 2nd after continuous pressure.
Henny then added a 3rd soon after.
For the 2nd week we did the job within 30 mins.
Half time 3-0
Sacred Heart went down to 10 and we did the same, however it disrupted our balance and flow.
We created quite a chances but struggled to convert.
Sacred heart got 1 back as Katie was flattened in the box.
We moved up a gear and Charley played a lovely ball through for Henny to score our 4th and her Hat-trick.
Sacred Heart got a consolation goal late on.
Final Score Toddington 4 - Sacred Heart 2
This was the 1st time we have beaten Sacred Heart in 4 years of trying and it could have been by more.
Kayleigh had a strong game at the back, Kristie battled hard but the joint misses of the match were Hat-trick hero Henny and Beth who was absolutely magnificent throughout.
For the 2nd team in a week we have made a cup semi final, well done Girls!!
If we believe we can achieve......
January 21st - County Cup V Biggleswade
"True Grit"
We were away at Biggleswade in the Quarter final of the County Cup, a team that beat us in the semi final last year and a venue we had never won at.
Our squad was 13 including Abi who had not been well and Beth was our captain.
Things started well when we won the toss and played with the gale force winds behind us.
We took the game to them + were one up in 10 mins as Ella scored with a left foot shot.
Soon after Ella was fouled 15 yards into their half. Charley gave it an almighty wallop and it flew goal bound, their goalie parried it and Henny slapped it away.
Biggleswade were very up for this game and came back but our defensive 3 of Katie, Evie and Kayleigh fought hard and Ellie M was outstanding.
Ellie M cleared long up field, Henny sprinted forward, saw the keeper come and hesitate + lobbed her, what a goal!
We had lots of pressure + some great corners, Kristie came close + Ella rifled over.
Half Time Biggleswade 0 Toddington 3
The wind picked up (if that was possible...up) and the heavens opened, the 2nd half was going to be tough.
But the girls listened , concentrated + worked very hard.
Abi came into action + we went for 4 in defence.
Our Defending was superb throughout as we repeatedly snuffed out our opponents.
Ellie M took great goalkicks + birthday girl Kayleigh magnificent.
Kristie ran her socks off + never gave up + with Beth we dominated the middle of the field.
Laura + Adie battled down the right.
Ella was harshly adjudged offside twice when she might have finished off our opponents.
Biggleswade got 1 back as we made 1 lapse.
Henny almost got a hattrick but her shot was well saved.
Charlotte did well down the left.
Ella broke down the left wing + pinged the ball across the 6 yard box and Adie slammed it home for 4-1.
Ellie M then made a fine save from a piledriver from Biggleswade.
Final Score Biggleswade 1 Toddington 4
This was a great performance by all the girls in attrocious conditions, "true grit" and we deserve our chance to make the final.
Today showed our St Martins performance was not a fluke + we delivered another massive performance.
Miss of the Match was very difficult, Henny, Kristie + Beth did very well, but our defence was magnificent + Evie played brilliantly including some excellent headers + showing courage when she needed to.
Miss of the Match was Evie.
Next up is Sacred Heart in the league cup quarter final on Saturday. Bring it on!
January 7th away vs St.Martins
Today we played away versus the league leaders.
We had a squad of 13 and Beth captained.
We started strongly playing into the wind.
St.Martins took the lead when a wind assisted inswinging corner eluded Ellie in goal.
Both teams created chances, our defence of Evie, Kayleigh, Abi and Katie defended excellently.
Charley and Henny showed good touches and came close to scoring.
Ella made a run and was chopped down in their box, Kayleigh took the penalty and blasted high and wide.
Ella almost equalised following a good run, missing by inches.
Henny was also chopped in the box but we did not get a pen.
Kristie and Beth battled hard in the middle of the field assisted by Laura and Adie.
St.Martins also created chances but Ellie made a number of quality saves.
Half Time St.Martins 1 Toddington 0
The 2nd half was equally end to end, St. Martins broke strongly and netted.
Charley almost got us a goal with a shot from at least 30 yards which almost nutmegged their goalie.
Charlotte chased hard and forced their defence into a number of mistakes.
Within minutes we switched off and gifted St.Martins their 3rd and they soon added a 4th.
This was a travesty as our girls had given St.Martins a very tough test.
Henny chased a loose clearance, helped on by Charley and Kristie before Ella smashed it home.
We got tired and St.Martins created a number of late chances one of which was brilliantly cleared off the line by Katie and Ellie Meredith made a series of magnificent saves and blocks.
Final Score St.Martins 4 Toddington 1
The girls had repeated their performance of last year when St.Martins had congratulated us for fighting like tigers on every inch of the pitch.
The score did not reflect how close this game was, we had played as a very strong team for almost all the game.
Almost all girls were candidates for Miss of the Match, specific mention to Abi and Evie who were great, Adie gave 100%, Katie was brilliant but the winner was Ellie Meredith, without doubt the best goalkeeper in the league!!
Saturday 3rd December
"We do practice shooting- Honest!"
Today we played at home versus Biggleswade, with Ralph managing the team assisted by Jonathan.
Beth was captain, the game was played at 9 a side at Biggleswades request.
Toddington created loads of chances but were unable to convert them.
Half time 0-0
Ella threaded the ball through and Adie coolly slotted the ball away.
Helen Wright thought this was probably the best goal so far this season!
We then proceded to create a hatful of chances which we did not take.
Ralph believed the winning margin should have been 6 or 7.
Final Score Toddington Rovers 1 Biggleswade 0
Ralph thought all of the girls played well, Charlotte Batcock won Miss of the Match after a battling performance.
We are now joint 4th in the league.
Next week we face unbeaten League leaders St. Martins.....
Saturday 26th November
Today we played at home vs Sandy.
We were 14 which soon turned into 12 players and they had a team of the bare 11
Kristie was out injured.
During the 1st half we created quite a few chances but failed to convert.
Ella and Henny came closest.
Charlotte sprinted through after a good pass from Ella and gave us the lead.
We shuffled our team as some girls felt ill.
Half Time Toddington 1 Sandy 0
The key thing was to score a 2nd goal and push on, instead we gave a very soft goal away...
Beth battled extremely hard and as Captain lead from the front.
We created more chances which we squandered.
Sandy broke, we panicked in defence and they went ahead.
This was slightly unjust as despite playing below par we deserved better.
We pushed forward but could not get an equaliser.
Final score Toddington 1 Sandy 2
Abi and Adie did well but MIss of the Match went to Beth who was outstanding.
Saturday 19th November
Home game vs MK City
After lots of team photo's we got on with the game.
Beth was back as captain.
Addie, Laura and Megan made welcome starts.
We pressed immediately and were rewarded with a goal as Kristie headed home.
Charley Bailey made her debut and scored from a free kick which was almost her 1st touch!
Our defence of Evie, Kayleigh and Katie held strong when they needed to.
Henny grabbed our 3rd after a cool finish.
We had lots of chances and should have gone in further ahead.
In the 2nd half Henny made a good break down the right and shot, Charlotte poked it in on the line under pressure from the defender.
Abi played right back and did well.
Ella then made a great run and shot from an acute angle which Charley tapped away.
Henny then coolly finished off another chance.
Finally, Ella who has created lots of our recent goals got on the score sheet.
Final Score Toddington Rovers 7 Mk City nil
Our midfield was very strong today and the girls passed the ball well.
Evie gave us the best laugh of the game as the ball slipped through her hands like a jellied eel when she took a throw.
Charley made a strong debut, but Miss of the Match went to Katie Mccann for another very strong performance.
Bring on Sandy!
Home game vs MK City
After lots of team photo's we got on with the game.
Beth was back as captain.
Addie, Laura and Megan made welcome starts.
We pressed immediately and were rewarded with a goal as Kristie headed home.
Charley Bailey made her debut and scored from a free kick which was almost her 1st touch!
Our defence of Evie, Kayleigh and Katie held strong when they needed to.
Henny grabbed our 3rd after a cool finish.
We had lots of chances and should have gone in further ahead.
In the 2nd half Henny made a good break down the right and shot, Charlotte poked it in on the line under pressure from the defender.
Abi played right back and did well.
Ella then made a great run and shot from an acute angle which Charley tapped away.
Henny then coolly finished off another chance.
Finally, Ella who has created lots of our recent goals got on the score sheet.
Final Score Toddington Rovers 7 Mk City nil
Our midfield was very strong today and the girls passed the ball well.
Evie gave us the best laugh of the game as the ball slipped through her hands like a jellied eel when she took a throw.
Charley made a strong debut, but Miss of the Match went to Katie Mccann for another very strong performance.
Bring on Sandy!
Saturday 12th November
"WE WOZ ROBBED"
Away versus Sacred Heart
Today we played at 10 a side with Henny as captain.
We started brightly and had them camped in their half, Henny linked well with Kristie creating chances, Ella blasted over from in front of goal.
However, we switched off and Sacred Heart scored 2 goals from 2 breaks.
We showed good attitude and after another break Henny put the ball over for Charlotte to score.
Beth battled hard and Ellie Wood dominated in the air.
Ella created good opportunities after strong runs.
We were very much on top with Abi firing in a number of good throws.
A late goal from a break mean't we went in 3-1 down.
The girls showed good spirit and took the game to Sacred Heart, Ella threaded a ball through and Henny scored.
Not to outdone Beth walloped the ball into the top corner from 30 yards.
We were level! We created lots more and had 2 goals diallowed for offside, 1 of which was very harsh.
Ella then broke and crashed the ball against the post, it would just not go in!
Sacred then broke and got the winner, it was heartbreaking.
They had at most 5 breaks and scored 4 times.
Although Sacred Hearrt were 3rd in the league last season and are in the same place now we should have pride as we had 70% of play most of which was in their half.
Katie, Ellie W and Beth had played very well but Miss of the Match went to Kristie.
One day soon we are going to thump someone.....it will not be too far away.
Saturday 5th November
Home game versus St. Martins
Today we played the league leaders, after only 1 league game in 5 weeks this was always going to be a tough game.
After a couple of defensive frailties we found ourselves 2-0 down at half time.
Kristie played really well in Midfield and Katie did well against their strong centre forward.
Ever reliable Ellie M kept us in the game with a string of good saves and braveness.
However, we soon fell apart in the 2nd half with a performance which lacked effort and exposed a significant lack of fitness.
Charlotte rallied in the last 20 mins and made some strong runs but to no avail.
By the end we had lost 7-0, a miserable score.
Although we haven't had a game for a while we have continued to train, sometimes with as few as 5 attending.. Even so some attendees seem to have the mindset of not fully participating.
This will stop from this week!
We have some outstanding potential and will move on from this as a team.
Next week we have another tough game versus Sacred heart and will seek to massively improve performance.
Although Kristie + Katie ran her close Miss of the Match was our captain, Ellie Meredith.
Saturday 15th October
"The local Derby"
Today we were away at Westoning.
With no Evie or ET we had 13 players.
We started strongly and Ella and Henny had a lot of chances.
Our 1st goal came from Kristie who lobbed the keeper from outside the box.
We then switched off and allowed Westoning to get a goal from distance.
This woke us up and we continued to create chances.
Kristie and Beth dominated the middle and used the ball well.
Abi did excellently at Right back and Ellie Wood won everything in the air and with Katie MCcann playing strongly and Kayleigh reading the game well Westoning did not threaten Ellie M too much..
Half time 1-1
In the 2nd half we created lots of chances, with Adie and Charlotte coming close.
Ella broke down the left and rifled a shot that the goalie parried but could not keep out.
We then settled down and played some nice passing with Laura and Adie leading this.
Ella broke and crossed for Henny to score from close range.
We had lots more chances but did not convert them.
Ellie M had almost nothing to do all game....
Final score Westoning 1 Toddington 3
As manager it was very pleasing to see excellent attitude in the 2nd half which we absolutely dominated.
Abi had one of her best games, Ellie Wood was outstanding and Kristie chased and fought for everything.
Miss of the Match went to someone who gave 100% in her 2 runs on pitch.
She battled hard, held the ball up for others and did a very cheeky back header..... Bev Mccann picked Megan Hopkins much to the delight of the girls.
Saturday 24th September
Today we had a squad of 13, however quite a few of the girls had been ill or felt unwell.
Ella got sandwiched almost immediately and then was soon after chopped down in their box.
After 5 minutes we lost Abi after taking a hard shot in the head.
But we battled on playing uphill.
Kristie then took a knock and came off giving Megan a run.
We did well and our defence held strong, Kayleigh made some great blocks and runs.
Beth marked their striker and gave her no time / space.
Ellie Wood played very well in midfield and we created chances.
Laura felt poorly and came off with Kristie back on.
MK had a couple of chances but Ellie M had them covered.
Half time MK city 0 - Toddington 0
In the 2nd half we created quite a few chances, 2 of Ella's corners bobbled along the line but we could not convert.
Evie took a knock and came off with Ella playing left back, she chipped a ball through, chased by Katie and then smacked into the net by Charlotte, her 3rd of the season!.
The game was end to end but largely played in their half.
Adie and Megan had some good runs and Kristie battled hard.
MK had a chance when their striker rounded Ellie M, who bravely fought back and other good defending mean't they missed their best chance.
FInal score MK City 0 - Toddington 1
This was a fair score, the girls had battled hard given injury and illness.
Miss of the Match was very tough, Ellie Wood did very well, Kayleigh had been brilliant but was pipped by our Captain Beth who played centre half and had nullified their threats.
Well done girls, bring on Westoning!
Saturday 17th September
Toddington Rovers vs Sacred Heart - Sat 17th Sept
Today we entertained Sacred Heart who finished 4th in the league last year.
The day did not start well with some girls arriving late and our warm up more resembled a doctors surgery with a number needing treatment.
Christie made her league debut.
We started very brightly and Ella might on another day have had a hat trick in the first 10 minutes.
However, increasingly Sacred Heart got into the game and began to win all 50/50's.
Disappointingly, we did not pass to each other nor did we call for the ball.
After 3 of our defenders had failed to clear the ball in our box and a couple of deflections the ball was in our net.
The 2nd half was a slight improvement on the 1st.
Sacred Heart had a number of chances as they broke with pace, despite injury Ellie M made a number of brave saves and then kicked very well out of her hands.
Ella created more chances but did not convert any, Charlotte blasted just over and Adie just wide.
The next goal was going to decide the game.
It went to Sacred Heart.
Final Score Toddington Rovers 0 Sacred Heart 2
This was a game we could and should have won.
Henny picked Miss of the Match and it went to debutant Christie who had battled hard and looked to pass at every opportunity.
Well done Christie!
Saturday 10th September
Our 1st game of the season away at Flitwick who won every league game last season. We had only 12 and that included injured Adie. Having started well but were stunned when Flitwick scored 2 very good goals from distance.
The defence steadied down and we took the game to Flitwick. Ellie W and Beth began to dominate and create opportunity. Megan chased and battled upfront assisted by Katie and Charlotte..
Abi and Evie pinged in the throws but we could not score.
Flitwick broke at pace several times and finally breached our defence.
However we did not give up..Laura got us all passing following which Ella got the ball on the half way line and roasted Flitwick, she crossed for Charlotte to score.
Katie created chances but was unlucky not to find the net. Adie came on for Megan but pulled up sharply so Megan went back on again..
Half Time Flitwick 3 - Toddington 1
2nd half was into a strong wind and mean't a lot of defending. All 3 defenders were at their best coupled with Ellie M's normal acrobatics to keep Flitwick out.
As we stretched our team we conceded a 4th.
Soon after Ella picked up the ball on the half way line and went down to right leaving her Flitwick markers, she accelerated around challengers and crossed for Charlotte to bundle home.
At 4-2 Flitwick wobbled, but we were too tired to capitalise. Flitwick then got a 5th in the last minute.
Overall, a good performance, perhaps with more players + Henny we might have got something from the game.
Final Score Flitwick 5 Toddington 1
Miss of the Match was picked by Barbara Jackson as Evie, who had played very strongly and had got a red face doing so...
Sunday 4th September
"What a beautiful day..."
We went to Sandy tournament the day after our heaviest ever defeat.
With holidays, family commitments and injury we had only 10 girls including triallist Zhane and were hoping to play 9 a side.
Our 1st game was against Westoning and we played very well with Henny going close several times and Ella pinging both posts before securing the win.
Henny played in severe pain and gave everything despite a badly bruised ankle, however she could not play anymore.
Adie was excellent at left back.
Dark clouds came over and it bucketed down with rain.
Our 2nd game was against Biggleswade, we were down to the bare 9 with Megan leading the attack Katie Mccann reverted to full back playing alongside Kayleigh and Zhane.
Megan held the ball up for others and battled tirelessly coming close to score on several occassions.
Not long after the start of the game Adie badly twisted her knee and was sidelined for the rest of the Tournament.
But undeterred we battled on one player light.
Beth and Laura bossed the midfield passing the ball well and creating opportunity.
Ella scored our winner.
This guaranteed us at least 2nd place.
Zhane was down with cramp and Kayleigh had problems with her knee and Megan had blisters from Saturday.
But the girls showed amazing attitude and we had to play our last game versus Sandy in monsoon conditions immediately after beating Biggleswade.
Ellie M was outstanding and made a series of good saves and her kicking was brilliant.
Ella took advantage of a couple of long kicks and we were soon 2-0 up.
Kayleigh and Zhane both made runs that went the full length of the pitch and deserved goals.
Sandy fought back and scored a very good goal which Ellie just could not keep out.
The game was end to end, our girls were very tired but worked tirelessly.
At one stage we lost Zhane due to cramp and were 2 players down and the game was finally balanced.
Ella stole down the left and crossed to Laura who slammed home our 3rd and sealed the game. Ella then completed a hat-trick.
Final score 4-1.
We had won our 1st trophy in the most horrible conditions, the girls played above themselves and we were all extremely proud of them.
They all got a plaque for winning the tournament and we got a Trophy which Beth collected.
Many thanks to all the parents for their support, we all were soaked to the skin.
|
