Lewisham 5-2 Brent
London Girls’ Inter-District League, 10th February 2018
In a classic ‘game of two halves’, the Brent Under-11 Girls’ squad showed great fighting spirit away to Lewisham.
Despite a superb display from Milly-May Blue in goal and good defending from Sophie Kew and captain Keely Dibley-Dias, Lewisham got the upper hand and went into half time with a 4-0 advantage. Brent regrouped and the second half was a completely different story.
Brent coach Chris Ampofo observed: “At half time we said ‘let’s see if we can win the second half’ and the players responded magnificently”. Brent scored their first goal in the London League thanks to a good team move. Blue rolled the ball to Maria Canevale who slipped the ball to Lizzy Ulusele; she found Matilda Easterby in midfield. A neat ball was pinged to Guissepina Carnevale on the left wing. Canevale turned her marker inside out before curling the ball into the top right corner of the net. The tide of the game had completely changed and Brent launched a series of attacks. First, striker Natalia Camara fired just wide. Then debutante Kathleen Santos Ferreira had a good effort saved. Brent forced 4 successive corners as they fought for the all-important next goal, then against the run of play Lewisham launched a counter and scored with a shot which gave the excellent Blue no chance in goal.
Falling 5-1 behind spurred Brent on even more and their dominance continued. Kew and Dibbley- Dias were so dominant in defence that Lewisham did not have another shot. The goal of the game came 10 minutes from time. Kew released Maria Caravale on the right. A quick switch found sister Guissepina who jinked inside her marker before unleashing a brilliant chip over the giant Lewisham keeper. The goal had even the Lewisham fans applauding, Brent continued to have the upper hand but time ran out and the match finished with the score unchanged.
Chris Ampofo said: “I am so proud of the girls. They really battled hard. They are improving with every game. The defending was excellent in the second half and the two goals were sensational.”
Brent: Guissepina and Maria Carnevale, Keely Dibley–Dias, (capt) Matilda Easterby, Sophie Kew, Natalia Camara, Elizabeth Ulusele, Kathleen Santos Ferreira, Milly-May Blue