South London 0-3 Brent
London Girls' League, Group One
Saturday 5th March 2016
Brent Under-11 Girls were hoping to extend their 100% record in Group One of the London Girls’ League when they played their penultimate group game against South London. The side travelled knowing that a victory would see them secure their place in the Super-Six stage of the competition, where they would take on the leading districts from Group Two.
Brent started the match brightly, despite the muddy conditions, with Noelani Agyeman seeing two early, powerful efforts going just wide of each post in the opening two minutes. In the tenth minute of the match, Agyeman skilfully got past two defenders and drove a low ball across the box that was controlled by Maya Pires who produced an exquisite chip over the on-rushing ‘keeper to give Brent a deserved lead. For the rest of the half Brent continued to pepper the South London goal with a number of shots, but they couldn’t find a way past an inspired South London goalkeeper who was determined to keep her team in the game.
The second half began very differently to the first, with South London dominating possession and creating panic for Brent with every attack. Thanks to solid defending from Angel Acheampong and Jennifer Grey, two agile saves from Chloe Angell and a fantastic last ditch tackle from Nia Bowman, Brent managed to see out the opening ten minutes of the second period without conceding and began to find their rhythm again.
In the final fifteen minutes, Agyeman moved into centre midfield and controlled the pace of the game. With seven minutes left, Agyeman intercepted a ball just in Brent’s own half, drove into the open space and released a thunderbolt of a strike mid-way in South London’s half that took a slight deflection off striker Susan Uwaifo, to make the score 2-0. Agyeman started Brent’s very next attack, winning the ball on the right, going past the defender and saw her powerful effort parried into the path of Pires who headed home for her second goal of the game and Brent’s third and final goal. The match finished 3-0 to Brent who have won all three of their group games and have qualified for the Super-Six with one group game still to play. Coaches Joe Khalfi and Ronan O’Rourke were delighted with their Brent’s hard fought victory and Khalfi added, ‘To get through the opening ten minutes of the second half without conceding was crucial. It was a fantastic team effort and a well-deserved win that the score line makes look a lot more comfortable than it was. Their ‘keeper was outstanding today but our girls managed to go up another gear when they needed to which was excellent.’
Player of the match: Noelani Agyeman. Joe Khalfi commented: “Noelani was magnificent today. She got an assist for every goal, covered every blade of grass with passion and could have got a couple of goals if not for the inspired South London goalkeeper.”
Team: Chloe Angell (Byron Court) Angel Acheampong (Princess Federica) Nia Bowman (Sudbury) Jennifer Grey, Susan Uwaifo (St Robert Southwell) Noelani Agyeman (Our Lady of Lourdes) Maya Pires (Mount Stewart) Lauren Thompson (Maloress).