2005-2006 SEASON
For
the complete statistics for the season click here
RESULTS FOR JUNE
LLANGYFELACH TOURNAMENT 10TH JUNE
Garden Village Colts 0
Dafen 0
Garden Village Juniors 0
Pant & Dowlais 0
Garden Village Colts 0
Llangyfelach 0
Garden Village Juniors 0
Landore 0
Semi Final
Garden Village Juniors 1
Dafen 0
(Charlie)
Final
Garden Village Juniors 1
Pant & Dowlais 2
(Charlie)
RESULTS FOR MAY
PONTARDAWE TOURNAMENT 28TH MAY
Garden Village 2 Pontardawe
0
(Rachel, Charlie)
Garden Village 2
Bancffosfelen 0
(Charlie x2)
Garden Village 1 Pontardawe
0
(Jordan)
Semi Final
Garden Village 1 Landore
1
(Rachel)
GARDEN VILLAGE FUN
DAY TOURNAMENT 7TH MAY
GROUP
1
Garden Village Juniors 4
Penyrheol 0
(Rachel, Vicky, Charlie x2)
Garden Village Juniors 4
Plough Colts 0
(Charlie x2, Alex x2)
Garden Village Juniors 2
Pontardawe 1
(Charlie, Alex)
SEMI-FINAL
Garden Village Juniors 0
Langyfelach 2
Squad: Rachel K, Vicky, Jess, Jayde, Kayleigh, Rachel D, Katie W, Charlie, Alex
RESULTS FOR APRIL
KILGETTY TOURNAMENT
29TH APRIL
GROUP 1
Garden Village 1 Thornhill
Gold 0
(Charlie)
Garden Village 2 Coed Cae Colts 0
(Charlie x2)
SEMI-FINAL
Garden Village 0 Thornhill
Gold 3
Squad: Alex, Jess, Charlie, Jayde, Kayleigh, Rachel D, Katie W, Bethan
With one of the teams in their group, Monkton, not showing up, Garden Village
only had two group
matches, both against teams they had never played before, Thornhill Gold and
Coed Cae Colts.
As often happens, the girls seemed to find it hard to get into gear in their
first match, which was
against Thornhill Gold, who turned out to be a very good team, threatening to
score several times,
and forcing Jess to come up with some good saves, but eventually Charlie gave
Garden Village the goal
they needed to secure victory. It had been hard work, especially as the first
half seemed to last
twice as long as the second, and with a referee who seemed unsure of the
tournament rules.
The girls appeared to have warmed up by their second match, and some good
football from the team,
especially new girl, Bethan, playing her first match for Garden Village, enabled
Charlie to score two
goals, which would see the girls comfortably through to the semi-finals.
Unfortunately, the semi-finals saw Garden Village against Thornhill Gold, who
had given them so much
trouble in their first match. Garden Village, to be honest played adequately,
and Thornhill Gold were
too good a team for the girls to not play their absolute best in order to win.
Even their coach, Tony said
that the result was a fair reflection of their performance. A disappointing end
to the day for the girls, but
now they need to focus on the Garden Village tournament in a weeks time, and do
better.
23RD APRIL
Garden Village 3 Pontardawe
A 0
(Charlie x2, Rachel D)
Garden Village 3 Pontardwe
B 0
(Charlie x3)
Garden Village Yellow 3 Garden
Village White 4
(Katie W x2, Charlie, Jess, Kayleigh)
Squad: Jayde, Jess, Alex, Rachel D, Charlie,
Kayleigh, Katie W
9TH APRIL
Garden
Village 3 Penyrheol 1
(Katie W, Alex, Rachel D)
Garden Village Red 3 Garden
Village White 3
(Katie W, Alex x2, Charlie x2, Rachel
D)
Squad: Alex, Charlie, Vicky, Rachel D, Katie W,
Jess, Kayleigh, Jayde
DAFEN TOURNAMENT 2ND
APRIL
GROUP 1
Garden Village 3 Dafen
Yellows 0
(Katie W, Charlie, Alex)
Garden Village 6 Pontardawe
0
(Charlie x2, Hannah x2, Alex, Jayde)
Garden Village 3 Penyrheol
0
(Katie W x2, Charlie)
SEMI FINAL
Garden Village 0 Dafen
Blues 0
(Group 1 Winners Garden Village
played Group 2
Runners Up Dafen Blues, and after another tense, exciting
game which went to extra time with no goals scored, the
result was settled in a penalty shoot-out, won by Dafen)
Squad: Hannah, Lauren, Jordan, Lois, Jess,
Alex, Charlie, Jayde, Katie W
The first tournament of 2006 saw the Garden Village Girls fielding a squad made
up of Juniors and Colts
After a slow, shaky start for the first two minutes against Dafen Yellows,
Garden Village soon found their
feet, and goals by Katie W, Charlie and Alex gave them their first win of the
day. Everyone was now playing
well, and the girls were full of confidence.
Against Pontardawe for the second game, the girls were at the opposition from
the start, with early shots
at goal. Jordan took the ball off a Pontardawe attacker and passed cleverly back
to Jess, who gave the ball
out quickly to Alex. Alex ran the ball up the pitch and passed to Charlie, who
skillfully beat the defence and
scored Garden Village's first goal. Hannah soon followed this example and the
ball shot past the goalie for
number two. Alex chipped one over the keeper, and then Jayde and Charlie left
the defence standing with
a beautiful one-two, which enabled Jayde to stick one in the back of the net.
Both Charlie and Hannah added
another goal each to make it a 6-0 win for Garden Village.
Next up was Penyrheol, and while the Garden Village defence of Jordan, Lois and
Lauren never looked
in any danger of letting Penyrheol score a goal, and Hannah, Alex and Jayde kept
plugging away in the
oppositions half, no goals were scored until Katie W and Charlie came on for the
second half, when three
went in in quick succession. With three wins out of three, and not having
conceded a goal, Garden Village
were definitely through to the semi-final, but who would they be facing?
For the Semi-Final, Group 1 Winners Garden Village
played Group 2 Runners Up Dafen Blues. After a
tense, exciting game, as usual against Dafen, which went to extra time with no goals scored, the
right to a
place in the final was settled in a penalty shoot-out, which saw some great
saves by both goalies.
For Garden Village, Jordan in particular scored a cracking penalty, but Dafen
got more shots in the net.
A good day, and although the girls were disappointed not to make it through to
the final, after winning
all three of their group games, scoring 12 goals, and conceding none, they can
be proud of the standard of
football they played all day. I think, perhaps they will insist on practicing
penalty-taking at their next training.
RESULTS FOR MARCH
Garden Village
Juniors 2 Dafen 1
(Rachel D, Katie W)
Garden Village Juniors 5
Penyrheol 0
(Charlie x2, Katie W x2, Rachel D)
GV White 5 GV
Yellow 4
(Megan x2, Charlie x2, Alex x2,
Katie W, Hannah, Rachel K)
12th March
Garden Village Juniors 0 Penyrheol 1
Garden Village Juniors 5 Llangyfelach 0
(Charlie x4, Alex)
Garden Village Juniors 9 Pontardawe 0
(Charlie x4, Jayde x2, Kayleigh,
Alex, Jess)
Squad: Charlie, Jayde, Kayleigh, Alex, Jess
5th March
Garden Village Juniors
10 Pontardawe A 0
(Charlie x3, Katie W x3, Rachel D x2,
Alex, Jayde)
Garden Village Juniors 2 Pontardawe B 0
(Charlie, Rachel)
Squad: Jess, Charlie, Rachel D, Katie W, Jayde, Alex, Kayleigh
RESULTS FOR FEBRUARY
For much of February, due
to illness, Garden Village Juniors did not have enough players
to field a team. The players that were fit, played for Garden Village Colts on
those dates.
See the Garden Village Colts team pages for results.
SUNDAY 26TH
FEBRUARY
See the Colts page for
results
SUNDAY 19TH FEBRUARY
No Matches due to bad
weather
SUNDAY 12TH FEBRUARY
Garden Village
Juniors 1 Llangyfelach 2
(Katie W)
Garden Village Green 2 Garden Village White
3
(Jayde,
Alex) (Charlie x2, Katie
W)
This match saw a mix of Juniors & Colts players on either side
SUNDAY 5TH FEBRUARY
See the Colts page for
results
RESULTS FOR JANUARY
SUNDAY 29TH JANUARY
No Matches today due to bad weather
SUNDAY 22ND JANUARY
@ Garden Village
Garden
Village Juniors 5 Bancffosfelen
1
(Katie W x3, Charlie x2)
Garden Village Juniors
1 Llangyfelach 2
(Katie W)
Garden
Village Juniors 2 G V Colts 3
Squad: Jayde, Jordan, Charlie, Katie W
Alex, Kayleigh, Vicky, Jess
SUNDAY 15TH JANUARY
@ Bancffosfelen
Garden Village
Juniors 4 G V Colts 4
(Charlie x2, Rachel, Katie W)
Garden Village Juniors
4 Bancffosfelen 0
(Rachel x2, Charlie x2)
Garden Village Juniors 3 Dafen 1
(Charlie x2, Rachel)
Garden Village Girls
went west today to play at Bancffosfelen, and a nice change it was too, to play
somewhere
other than Pentrehafod every Sunday. The two Garden Village teams would be
playing each other, Dafen and, for
the first time ever, against Bancffosfelen themselves. After taking stock of the
age difference between the
two Garden Village teams, Tim and Louise decided to mix them up a little for the
derby which opened the day's
proceedings. This produced a very close and exciting eight-goal friendly, which
they all seemed to enjoy, and
warmed all the girls up nicely for the matches to come.
Bancffosfelen turned out to be a very good team, and a very close first half
produced some excellent saves by Jess,
who really showed her worth today. Both sides had chances as play flowed back
and forth, but eventually, Garden Village
took the lead when Charlie passed to Rachel, who nipped past the Bancffosfelen
defender to score. An opportunity to
extend their lead came when Alex battled the ball up the right wing, crossed to
Katie T, who took it forward and passed
on to Rachel, whose shot was just wide. A couple of Garden Village corners
brought the first half to an exciting end
with Garden Village 1-0 up.
The second half opened with more of the same, as Garden Village took two more
corners, and then a Bancffosfelen break
forced the girls onto the defensive. Kayleigh, Jayde and Jess managed to hold
Bancffosfelen off, and get the ball to Alex,
who took it forward, and lobbed it over the opposing midfield to land at
Charlie's feet. Charlie turned beautifully, and,
leaving the defence standing, shot and scored. From the Bancffosfelen kick-off,
Charlie then stole the ball, and went on
a solo run up the centre, beating three opposing defenders and the goalie, to
score in the top of the net. Bancffosfelen
were by no means beaten though, and continued to press into the Garden Village
half, where only a combination of Jayde
and Kayleigh's defending, with occasional help from Katie T and Alex, and Jess's
sure-handed goalkeeping denied them
a goal. Kayleigh almost scored with an overhead scissors kick from a corner, and
Katie T, Rachel and Charlie all had strong shots rebound off the crossbar, but
Rachel eventually made it 4-0 at the end when she tucked away a pass from
Charlie.
An excellent game, and nowhere near as one-sided as the scoreline might suggest.
I'm sure the girls are looking forward
to playing Bancffosfelen again soon.
More good football on show against Dafen, as again the first half saw play go
back and forth, with Dafen getting a
couple of corners and the Garden Village girls working hard to defend their own
half and to get into the Dafen half.
Games against Dafen could always go either way, and the first half was no
exception, with both goalies performing well,
both defences holding up, and both teams setting up nice chances, but unable to
find the back of the net, until Rachel
saw a chance and took it well, giving Garden Village the lead just before
half-time.
The second half started with the Dafen striker making an attack that beat all
the Garden Village team to equalise, and
left the Garden Village girls even more determined to win. They pressed forward.
Rachel had a shot. Alex had a shot.
A spot-on goal kick from Jess deep into the Dafen half eventually gave Charlie
the chance she needed, and she
turned and scored, putting Garden Village ahead once again, before sealing
victory with another goal from practically
at the corner flag, and at a seemingly impossible angle, which is becoming a bit
of a Charlie trademark.
Three good games at a new venue, (even if one of the pitches did resemble "Teletubbieland",
as I heard someone remark,
with a small hill right in the middle), a good start to the new year, and we are
playing at home next week. Happy Days.
Garden Village Juniors Home Games
Garden Village Juniors Under 11s have been allocated some home fixtures for the
New Year.
At last the girls will get to use the new Ladies changing rooms at the club, and
can
look forward to after-match sausage and chips, just like the Under 13s !
The Under 11s will be playing at the Garden Village Club, Stafford Common on the
following dates:-
Sunday 22nd January 2006
Sunday 26th February 2006
Sunday 19th March 2006
Sunday 9th April 2006
Sunday 23rd April 2006
(more details as soon as we have them)
The
Season So Far...
The quality of football of all the teams in the Under 11 league is
improving all the time, with Dafen particularly strong this season, and
always giving our girls a good, tough game. Landore, Pontardawe and
Llangyfelach also challenge the team week after week, and inspire the Garden Village girls to keep working to improve their
skills and teamwork. It is also good to see the newer teams get better and
better each week. Apparently, there are more teams joining soon, which is
great news. Every game this season, against every team has been played
with a spirit of fair play and sportsmanship on both sides, and the girls
have enjoyed them all, win, lose or draw.
We won the Underhill 2000 Trophy in Mumbles in September, which was a good start to the season,
and the girls have continued to do well. The team has scored 114 goals in
34 games (with Charlie scoring 50 of them), and conceded only 13.
We have lost one team member, which is a shame, but the team
remains strong. Charlie, Rachel, Katie W, Jayde, Katie T, Alex, Kayleigh
and Jess continue to impress with their individual skills, and, more
importantly, their ability to play so well as a team. We look forward to the New Year and the second half of the season,
and hope that we continue to do as well as we have done so far (and hopefully, Sundays will now
slowly and gradually get warmer and drier). |
 |
| |
Played |
Won |
Drawn |
Lost |
Goals For |
Goals Against |
Garden
Village
U11s |
34 |
28 |
5 |
1 |
114 |
13 |
GOALS:-
Charlie 50, Katie W
24, Rachel D 24, Alex 8, Jayde
5,
Katie T 2, Kayleigh 1
RESULTS FOR DECEMBER
SUNDAY 11th DECEMBER
Pentrehafod
Garden Village
2 Dafen 2
(Charlie x2)
Garden Village 3 Pontardawe
0
(Rachel x2, Charlie)
Garden Village 4 Penyrheol
1
(Charlie x 3, Rachel)
Squad: Charlie, Jess, Rachel D, Kayleigh,
Katie W, Katie T, Alex
As the entire team had been at a sleepover the night before, and had not had
much sleep, the parents weren't
expecting a particularly spectacular performance. Charlie needed 6 goals today
if she was to reach a
total of 50 goals before Christmas. First team up was Dafen, but the girls at
least, were confident.
Charlie scored early on, but it wasn't long before Dafen equalised. Despite some
good runs from
Alex, and a strong performance from Jess in goal, just before half-time, Dafen
scored again, to go 2-1 up.
The second half started with a long pass from Alex to Charlie, deep in the Dafen
half, and a strong shot which was
saved by Dafen's excellent goalie. More of the same followed, with Katie W,
Katie T and Alex working the ball
forward to Charlie and Rachel. A pass up the centre, and Charlie beat three
defenders to shoot, only to have her shot deflected by a great diving save by
the Dafen goalie. From the corner, Katie T had a shot. Charlie had another run
and
a shot, and Rachel tried again from the rebound. Eventually, Charlie slipped the
ball past the keeper for a 2-2 draw.
Not a bad performance at all, much to the parents' surprise, and Charlie now
only needed 4 more goals.
Against Pontardawe, Garden Village pressed hard from the kick-off, charging into
their opponents half.
and launching attack after attack, all of which were deflected by some good
goalkeeping. Garden Village
had practically all the possession, apart from the odd break, which was stifled
by Kayleigh. A succession
of corners found Garden Village, despite the girls' best efforts, unable to find
the back of the net, until
Charlie placed the ball right at Rachel's feet, enabling her to score. The next
corner was a short one, and
the ball was quickly returned to Charlie, who carried it into position for a
shot and scored, leaving the
girls 2-0 up at half time.
The second half opened with a quick break forward as Katie W battled for the
ball. A lovely pass to
Charlie gave her a shot, but it was saved. With Katie T scrapping in the box,
and lots of excellent
passing, shots and corners, the girls were looking in top form, with only good
goalkeeping holding them at
bay, until Charlie crossed the ball into the box from almost at the left corner,
and Rachel powered it
confidently into the goal, for a 3-0 win. Charlie now needed 3 goals in the last
game.
Garden Village sportingly allowed Penyrheol to field an extra player in the final
game of the morning, as the Garden
Village girls were really getting into their stride by now. The first half
featured some excellent one-two moves
going forward, impressive passing, strong heading by Alex and Rachel in
midfield, a cracking save by Jess from a
Penyrheol break and the girls switching play from one side of the pitch to the
other with ease. But no goals.
The second half started with a fluid passing move featuring Alex, Katie W,
Charlie and Rachel, which Rachel finished
off with a hard shot and a goal. The girls now began to dominate the game, with
a salvo of shots. Charlie worked the ball forward with a solo run and scored.
Katie W went on a long run, beating three defenders one after another, but her
shot
was saved. Against the run of play, Penyrheol then scored from a break, which
saw Jess facing three attackers alone, as
the rest of the team were all caught too far forward. Play quickly returned to
the Penyrheol half, with some good
hard battling in their penalty area, as the girls piled on the pressure.
Charlie, near the left-hand corner tried a shot at a seemingly impossible angle
and scored an incredible goal.
The only person who wasn't astounded when it went in the net was Charlie.
With only seconds to go, Charlie still needed one more goal for her 50, and
Penyrheol had possession at the kick-off.
Not for long. Alex won the ball, and coming forward could see Charlie ahead of
her. Charlie, quite well placed, with a reasonable chance of scoring and time
running out, shouted for her to pass to Rachel, who was unmarked on the wing.
Rachel took it forward, drew in the defenders, and then crossed it beautifully
to Charlie in the centre.
Charlie finished with a thundering 20 yard shot, and her 50th
goal of the season so far, and the ref blew the final whistle.
The cheer from parents and girls was embarrassingly loud.
SUNDAY 4th DECEMBER
Pentrehafod
Garden Village 2 Penyrheol
1
(Charlie, Alex)
Garden Village 2 Dafen
2
(Charlie, Rachel D)
Garden Village 5 Pontardawe
0
(Charlie x2, Rachel D x2, Jayde)
Squad: Jess, Rachel D, Jayde, Kayleigh, Charlie, Alex
Pentrehafod had well and truly thawed after last week's freeze and was the
muddiest it has been all season.
The goal areas were very soon little swamps, and no goalie was going home clean
today !
Perhaps with this in mind, Jess was missing for the first half against Penyrheol,
and Jayde, happy to get dirty,
stood in. After making one great save, Jayde decided to save the next shot with
her face to complete that
muddy look. Most of the play, however was in the Penyrheol half, with Charlie,
reliable as ever, opening
the day's scoring. Jess arrived in time for the second half, and the girls kept
up their excellent play,
enabling Alex to score, before Penyrheol got one back.
Another tense and exciting game against Dafen followed. In all honesty, Dafen
were probably the slightly
stronger team in the first half. Garden Village, despite playing very well,
couldn't seem to break through,
and eventually, Dafen scored on one of their quick breaks. Both teams were
determined to win and kept
up the pressure on their opponents' defence, but the half finished 1-0 to Dafen.
In the second half, Garden Village had more of the ball, and, at last, some
chances at scoring. Early on,
Charlie crossed to Rachel, whose fine shot was saved, and soon after, a solo
run by Charlie ended in the
equalising goal. Both teams were now playing excellent football, Dafen very fast
on the break, and
Garden Village displaying some superb passing play. Both defences were holding
up well, and both goalies
were confidently fending off any shots that did come their way. A 1-1 draw
looked on the cards, until
a long pass gave Charlie the chance to shoot. Her shot rebounded off the goalie,
and Rachel placed it
perfectly in the back of the net for Garden Village's
100th goal this season !
Not to be defeated, Dafen equalised from a break, and the game ended 2-2.
Another great game against
a great team that really test the girls every time they play.
Jess, Kayleigh, Alex, Jayde, Rachel and Charlie all played superbly.
Pontardawe attacked from the kick-off in the third game of the day, but Alex,
Kayleigh and Jess fended them
off, and gradually turned the game around, until Garden Village were soon
pressuring Pontardawe in their half
of the pitch. Alex, Jayde, Rachel and, of course, Charlie all had shots, but
the half ended 0-0.
Pontardawe seemed to have tired by the second half, and Charlie, finding herself
alone in their half, shot and
scored. Garden Village's skillful passing moves saw the whole team going forward
and pressing hard. Rachel's
shot was saved. Charlie's corner kick found Rachel, whose shot was deflected.
Rachel shot again, Charlie
shot, then Rachel shot and scored. A lovely one-two between Rachel and
Charlie allowed Charlie to score again.
As the ball was fed forward again and again, a long pass from Charlie to Rachel, was crossed to Jayde,
who narrowly missed the goal. Constantly attacking, Charlie again crossed to
Jayde, and this time she lined it
up carefully before scoring a cracking goal. Finally, Rachel scored again from
a break, making it 5-0.
Charlie, finding out from the ref that there was only 30 seconds of play left,
decided try for one more goal.
From the halfway line, the ball sailed over the Pontardawe goal in what would
have been a lovely conversion if
the girls were playing rugby.
.
RESULTS FOR NOVEMBER
The statistics for November have been
updated. View them here
SUNDAY 27th NOVEMBER
All matches cancelled as the pitches were
frozen
SUNDAY 20th NOVEMBER
Pentrehafod
Garden Village 3
Landore 0
(Charlie x2, Katie W)
Garden Village 8 Loughor
1
(Katie W x3, Rachel D x2, Charlie
x2, Jayde)
Garden Village 5 Pontardawe
0
(Charlie x4, Katie W)
Squad: Jayde, Kayleigh, Katie W,
Rachel D, Jess, Alex, Charlie
A lovely winters day, sunny, and crispy cold, prompted some parents to be
concerned (hopeful?) that the pitches might
prove to be too hard for play this morning, but the first few steps onto the
playing fields showed Pentrehafod
to be reassuringly soft and boggy once again, no matter what the weather. We
feel at home ankle-deep in this
squishy mud, now that we have all mastered the special method of walking
required to stay upright on the journey from
car to pitch, and from pitch to car at the end. Indeed, some of the younger
spectators feel the need to have it cover
more than their ankles, much to their parents delight.
The girls, as usual started slowly, and this combined with some good play from
Landore, made hard work of
the first half. The Landore goalie made some fine saves, but then threw the ball
to the feet of Katie W, who
didn't miss the opportunity to make short work of shooting it past her and into
the goal. Charlie also had a few
shots, but couldn't quite manage her usual finish, and the half ended 1-0
The second half found the girls much stronger, and most of the play was in the
Landore half, with a series
of corners and chances, but very good defending from Landore along with some excellent
goalkeeping stopped the girls
from scoring until a run and shot from Charlie saw the girls extend their lead
to 2-0. Katie W made a long run, but
her shot was saved. Kayleigh, Alex and Jayde kept feeding the ball up to Rachel
D, Katie and Charlie, and their
good passing play eventually paid off when Charlie slotted in a third goal.
New team, Loughor were a couple of players short, so Garden Village fielded less players for
this match, with Jayde,
Kayleigh, Katie W, Rachel D and Jess playing the first half, and Charlie, Rachel D, Alex
and Jess playing the second.
Excellent passing play and some skillful football saw Garden Village 4-0 up when
a Loughor break saw Kayleigh
chasing hard, but the Loughor striker scored a fine goal. More good play
followed in the second half, and Garden
Village's teamwork and experience showed, with the final score ending up at 8-1
Garden Village started their third match of the morning, against Pontardawe very
strongly, with lots of attacking play.
Early on, Alex ran the ball forward and passed to Katie W whose shot rebounded
off the post, at the feet of Charlie,
who expertly tapped it into the net. Charlie then added another when she
intercepted a Pontardawe goal kick.
Pontardawe also got in some good attacks, a breaking run from one Pontardawe
player brought Jess out to coolly
deflect the ball over the crossbar, giving Pontardawe a corner, which was
quickly cleared by Kayleigh.
Late in the first half, Katie W made a long pass, right on target to Charlie,
whose shot was denied well by the
Pontardawe keeper. The loose ball was picked up by Charlie, and this time the
goalie couldn't stop her shot, and
the half ended 3-0.
The second half saw Pontardawe attacks kept under control by Garden Village's
tight marking and cool defending.
Again, the girls pushed forward with plenty of smart passing enabling Alex,
Rachel D, Katie W and Charlie
to all have good shots at goal which were well saved by the Pontardawe keeper.
Eventually, in a passing move that
involved each of the girls and covered the entire length of the pitch, Charlie scored
her fourth.
Garden Village finished well when Alex attacked up the left wing, passed to
Charlie, who saw Katie W in space in the
centre and crossed right to her feet. This enabled Katie W to make a lovely
first-touch shot to score.
SUNDAY 13th NOVEMBER
Pentrehafod
Garden Village
4 Penyrheol 0
(Charlie x3, Alex)
Garden Village 1 Dafen
0
(Charlie)
Garden Village 3 Pontardawe
0
(Charlie x2, Katie W)
Squad: Rachel K, Katie T, Alex,
Katie W, Jayde, Jess, Charlie
After a two week soaking, the
girls emerged from the Pentrehafod mud into the sunshine of a lovely Autumn day.
No Rachel D or Kayleigh this week, but Rachel K was once again available to help
out.
The girls, understandably given the lack of training and matches for a
fortnight, took a while to get into gear.
They were slack for the first half against Penyrheol, but much better in the
second, emerging 4-0 winners, thanks to
a hat-trick from Charlie, and a goal from Alex, from a Charlie corner.
The Dafen match was, as usual, a cracker, with end to end action. Garden Village
had more possession, and Alex, Jayde,
Katie T and Katie W all had worthy shots denied by the (very good) Dafen goalie,
who they kept under pressure.
Early on, Charlie went down injured after a shot at goal, but was soon back in
the thick of it after treatment by the
coaches and the warm hands of her mum. A run up the wing, and a well-timed pass from Alex, saw
Charlie steaming in
from the left to smack the ball into the right-hand corner of the net.
Rachel K and Alex were solid in defence whenever Dafen attacked, and Jess made
some very nice saves, including
one superb sliding save on the goal line.
Every single one of the girls worked hard to earn this well-deserved 1-0 victory
over Dafen.
A very enjoyable, exciting, and close game, as always against Dafen.
The next game against Pontardawe saw what might be Garden Village's fastest goal
from kick off, with a pass, pass, shoot
move that saw Charlie open the scoring very early. Charlie's next shot, from the
right, was so hard it almost knocked the
goal posts over, and the next one after that was very bravely stopped by the
Pontardawe goalkeeper.
This game also saw much better coordination and communication between defender
Alex and goalie Jess than in previous
weeks. No scary moments this week ! Good teamwork paid off. One quick throw out
from Jess saw Alex battle through up
the left wing, and after beating three opponents, she passed to Charlie, who beat another
two and shot to score her
second goal.
Late in the first half, Katie W made it 3-0 with a long shot that surprised the
defence as it sailed over the goalie
and into the net. The second half saw more good football from Rachel K and Jayde,
good, safe saves from Jess, and
long runs deep into the Pontardawe defence from both Katie T and Alex.
After Charlie went off injured, the girls confidently carried on, one player short. Katie W
dropped back to bolster the already solid defence, and Katie T, Rachel K and Jayde kept up the pressure in the Pontardawe
half to finish 3-0 up.
 
SUNDAY 6th NOVEMBER
CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN
Another washout I'm afraid. No football again, today.
RESULTS
FOR OCTOBER
The statistics for October
have now been updated View them here
Sunday
30th October
Pentrehafod
Cancelled due to rain
SUNDAY OCTOBER 23RD
Pentrehafod
Garden Village
3 Landore 1
(Charlie x2, Rachel D)
Garden Village 9 Penyrheol
0
(Rachel D x5, Alex, Katie T, Jayde,
Charlie)
Squad: Alex, Rachel D, Charlie, Jess, Jayde, Kayleigh, Katie T
Garden Village started today like a wet weekend. Despite an early goal from
Charlie, the girls' team play was disappointing. Players were caught out of position, and there was a general lack of
coordination. Things went from bad to worse when Alex fluffed a pass back to
goalie, Jess, and handed the Landore striker an easy goal to equalise. The first
half had been a shambles, and the girls knew it (the look on Alex's face alone
dissuaded her father from trying to speak to her).
The second half looked more promising, with better passing allowing Charlie to
get some nice crosses in to Rachel D, on the left, and Rachel coming close to
scoring with some excellent shots. A handball, just outside the Landore penalty
area gave Garden Village a free kick, and Charlie placed it beautifully between
a defender and the goalie to take the lead. Garden Village were now back on
form, and finished the game nicely with a run upfield from Alex, and a series of
quick passes from Alex to Charlie to Jayde to Rachel D, which left the Landore
defence wondering what had happened as Rachel D scored their third.
Garden Village started their second match, against Penyrheol as they should have
started the day, with a couple of shots early on from well-timed passes from
Charlie. Alex then practically ran the ball into the net for their first goal,
before tapping it past the goalie. Some excellent passing allowed Rachel D to
confidently place the ball in the back of the net for a second goal. Alex, again
ran the ball up the pitch to Rachel D, who slammed it into the net for a third.
With all the play firmly in the Penyrheol half, Katie T battled at the goal
line, but just couldn't get the ball past the goalie despite three or four
tries. Then, a corner meant it was Jayde's turn to battle on the Penyrheol goal
line, but the ball firmly refused to go over, despite all her efforts, and the
half finished 3-0.
In the second half, good team play and confident passing were to the fore.
Rachel D slipped one under a diving goalie. Jayde shot, Katie T shot, and scored
at last, and then so did Jayde from an Alex pass. Alex ran with the ball and
passed to Charlie, who turned and crossed to Rachel D, who scored. And then,
they did it again, with exactly the same move ! Jayde had a close miss from
another Charlie cross, and in the final minutes, Charlie realised that, after
setting up so many goals, and shots on goal, she had better score one herself, so
she did, with a lovely left-footed shot.
So, 9-0, and apparently no-one else wanted to play us, despite our attempts to
organise a third game with any of the remaining teams, so home we all went.
The girls were also helped by the following email:-
Hello to all from Spain,
Thought that we would pop out of the Pool & Sun for 2 mins to send you all a message from Spain.
Weather here is brilliant, hope it is good with you, bet not! Still practising our football skills in my Nan's garden,
but she is not happy when we keep kicking the ball against the house.
Hope you have a good win on Sunday and dont get too muddy, will be thinking of you
when We are relaxing in the sun (hopefully).
Love Katie W. & Lorna xxxxxxx
SUNDAY OCTOBER 16TH
Pentrehafod
Garden Village
6 Penyrheol 0
(Katie W x3, Charlie, Rachel D
x2)
Garden Village 1
Dafen 1
(Rachel D)
Garden Village 3
Landore 0
(Alex, Jayde, Charlie)
Squad: Kayleigh, Jess, Vicky, Alex, Jayde, Rachel D, Katie W, Charlie
Garden Village got good results from their first and last games, which I'm
afraid I missed, but with goals from Katie W, Charlie, Rachel D, Alex and Jayde,
their coach Tony reports himself pleased that the girls displayed much more
energy and effort today right from the start.
I did, however see the match against Dafen, who this season seem to be the team
to beat, and a great game it was.
The standard of football from both sides was excellent from the kick off, with
play going from end to end. The two goalkeepers were central to this game with
cracking saves and good long kicks featuring heavily. One worrying moment came
when Alex, after taking the ball off a Dafen striker was so intent on denying
Dafen possession, that she collided with Jess, landing heavily on Jess's head.
Jess bravely got both hands on the ball, and booted it up the field, before she
admitted to the pain she was obviously in, and play was briefly stopped.
Eventually, after many breaks and shots from the two teams, Dafen scored.
Undeterred, Garden Village came back with a good passing attack leading to a
lovely one-two between Rachel D and Charlie enabling Rachel to equalise with a
great shot. Right up until the final whistle this was a very tense, but very
enjoyable match to watch, and all the girls came off the pitch smiling, and
rightly pleased with their strong performance against a very good team, and
looking forward to playing them again soon
SUNDAY OCTOBER
9TH
Pentrehafod
Garden Village 0 Dafen 1
Garden Village 4
Llangyfelach 1
(Charlie x3, Rachel D)
Garden Village 4 Landore
0
(Rachel D, Jayde, Alex, Katie W)
Squad: Alex, Katie T, Rachel D,
Jayde, Rachel K, Charlie, Katie W, Jess, Kayleigh
With Tony,
their regular coach missing for the first match against Dafen, and both reserve
coaches, Louise and Gwyn likewise unavailable I stepped forward to inspire the
girls, who seemed less than convinced of my qualifications for the job. (How
right they were.) Couldn't be too hard, could it, with all that talent
available? I was a little worried when I heard half the squad comparing notes on
parties and sleepovers they had attended this weekend, but with the team
selected, it just remained for me to impress on the girls that this would be a
tough match, probably the hardest of the day, against a team that we have played
a few times this season, and always found to be very good. All I needed to do
was let them get out there, make a big effort from the start, and get on with it
in their usual fashion.
All the above is just to explain the fact that we lost 1-0 to Dafen in a
nail-biting match, that saw both sides playing well, with end to end action that
could have gone either way, but resulted in Dafen scoring a goal. Despite some
tremendous efforts to equalise, I had just presided over the girl's first defeat
of the season, and I take full responsibility.
Anyway, the arrival of Tony and Louise saw them back in capable hands against
Llangyfelach, and Charlie opened the scoring early, and then went on to enable
Rachel D to score with a perfectly-placed cross. Another cross from Charlie,
well hit by Katie W was saved by the Llangyfelach goalie. A clever Katie T pass
to Charlie, who scored again made it 3-0 at half time. In the second half,
Llangyfelach rallied, and an attack up the left wing was halted by Alex, but her
pass back to the goalie was intercepted and put into the back of the net by the
Llangyfelach striker, which was disappointing as Jess had been confidently
defending the goal, and denying Llangyfelach all game. Charlie then attacked up
the right wing, beating player after player, and crossed to Jayde, who shot and
narrowly missed the goal. This pair then repeated the same move on the left of
the pitch, and narrowly missed again! Eventually they managed to score between
them when Jayde beat two Llangyfelach players and crossed to Charlie to slot in,
for a 4-1 win.
More excellent passing play was on show in the final match against Landore, and
early pressure from Garden Village soon led to the first goal, a cross nicely
tapped in by Rachel D. Jayde's persistence paid off when she once again deftly
took the ball past two defenders in the penalty area and made absolutely sure
her shot hit the back of the net. The defenders did their job well, especially a
superb header from Rachel K, keeping Landore away from the Village goal, and
pushing the ball forward with some confident ball skills and excellently-timed
passing moves. A second half corner from Alex was passed from player to player,
right across the pitch, before Charlie cunningly crossed it back to Alex, who
scored with a left foot touch. Charlie finished off the day with another long
run, and a cross for Katie W to score.
Another three fine games
with one disappointing result. Not too bad.
SUNDAY OCTOBER
2ND
Pentrehafod
Garden
Village 5 Landore 0
(Charlie x3, Katie W x2)
Garden Village 7 Penyrheol
0
(Charlie, Katie W x4, Kayleigh,
Katie T)
Squad: Alex, Rachel D, Kayleigh, Jayde, Charlie, Jess, Katie W.
This was more what we are used to, a
freezing cold morning, and a no-show from Llangyfelach meant that the girls
(and parents) had to stand around waiting for an hour before their first match.
Still, having had enough time to wake up, there was no repeat of last weeks slow
start, and the girls steamed into their first match, with Katie T, Jayde and
Rachel D feeding the ball through for Charlie and Katie W to finish off again
and again, leading to a 5-0 win.
Continuing their keen performance, the girls charged into the Penyrheol half,
and piled on the pressure. Charlie scored first, and had a couple of close
misses, before Katie W added another 2. In the second half, Kayleigh pushed
forward to score from a corner, and with Alex and Jayde holding the midfield
secure, Katie T opened her scoring for the season. Katie W added another 2 for
good measure, one of which was a superb cross-goal shot which slammed into the
top left of the net.
Another clean sheet for the girls, and despite their loud protests, their
freezing parents insisted it was time to head home, instead of playing an extra,
unplanned game against Dafen, who were also keen.
RESULTS
FOR SEPTEMBER
SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 25TH
Underhill 2000 Girls
Soccer Tournament 2005
UNDERHILL
PARK, MUMBLES
Underhill 2000 held a girls
mini 6-a-side football tournament with the support and assistance of the
West Wales Girls League and Mumbles Rangers Boys and Girls Club. The tournament
was based on a round robin competition that decided the
finalists in each age group. The winners in each age group received the
Underhill 2000 Shield. Sponsored by Underhill 2000, the tournament was held to promote girls
football to the wider community.
GROUP MATCHES
Garden Village 0 Dafen
0
Garden Village 3
Llangyfelach 0
(Charlie, Katie W x2)
Garden Village 0 Dafen
0
Garden Village 2
Llangyfelach 0
(Charlie, Katie W)
SEMI-FINAL
Garden Village 2 Loughor
0
(Katie W, Charlie)
FINAL
Garden Village 3 Landore
0
(Charlie x3)
Charlie's lob sails over the Landore
goalie on it's way to the back of the net
A lacklustre performance in the first match against Dafen, with Garden Village
looking half asleep, was not the start that we were hoping for in this
tournament, and led to a goal-less draw, but a quick chat from Louise had the
girls putting in a bit more effort against Llangyfelach, and the second-half of
this match produced some more of the excellent football that the girls are
capable of when they really try. In fact, goalie Jess was heard to complain that
she hadn't touched the ball, and was finding it all a bit boring, until it was
pointed out that this was a good thing, and meant the team were doing what they
were supposed to do, keeping the opposition away from her goal, and scoring at
the other end of the pitch.
Katie W lines up a shot
The second game against Dafen was much better for Garden Village, now they were
awake, with some good football from both teams leading to a very exciting game.
Garden Village and Dafen were very evenly matched, with lots of action at both
ends, and neither team quite able to score. The girls still haven't quite
forgiven Llangyfelach for winning the Garden Village tournament last season, and
turned on the magic to win this last game of their group matches, with a goal
each from Charlie, and then Katie W. This left them to wait out the final match
between Dafen and Llangyfelach to find out whether they were in the semi-finals.
They were, and even better, they weren't facing Village Sport !
Another fine performance against Loughor, with Katie W scoring a cracker of a
goal from a Charlie rebound, and Charlie following up with a goal of her own,
and the girls were once again hitting their top form.
Charlie about to score again
The final against Landore saw the girls playing at their best. It all came
together for them, and the girls played superbly, individually, and as a team.
Charlie set the standard with a beautifully-timed lob over the Landore goalie
early on, and the girls never let up for the whole match. Garden Village piled
on the pressure, and the result never seemed in doubt, as Charlie scored
another, and then another. A well-deserved win in their first tournament of the
season.
 
Katie W takes aim at the Landore goal,
then decides it would be funnier to deflect it off the post and knock the
photographer onto his bum. Ouch.
At least she said sorry, but I'm not sure whether it was for not scoring, or for
hitting me over
A good day in a different venue, and some excellent football all round
Squad: Katie T,
Kayleigh, Katie W, Charlie, Lily, Jess, Alex
SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 18TH
Pentrehafod
Garden Village
1 Dafen 0
(Charlie)
Garden Village
3 Llangyfelach 1
(Rachel D, Charlie
x2)
Garden Village
4 Village Sport 1
(Katie W, Charlie,
Alex x2)
Squad: Jess, Kayleigh, Alex, Katie T, Jade, Lily, Charlie, Rachel D, Katie W
Garden Village definitely had some challenging games this morning, and were
really tested, with Charlie giving them a goal in a close game against Dafen. A
cannonball of a shot from Charlie gave Garden Village an early lead against
Llangyfelach, but then, possible overconfidence from the defence allowed
Llangyfelach to equalise just before half-time.
Rachel, and then Charlie, again,
scored in the second half. This game, despite the score, was also very close,
needing some strong defending from Katie T, Jade, Kayleigh and Lily, and the
sure hands of Jess. The final game, after some discussion, was between Garden
Village, and their team-mates Village Sport.
SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 11TH
Pentrehafod
Landore 0 Penyrheol 0
Garden Village 6 Village
Sport 0
(Charlie x2, Rachel D x2, Katie W
x2)
Village Sport 0 Penyrheol
0
Garden Village 4 Landore
0
Katie W, Rachel D, Alex, Charlie)
Village Sport 1 Landore
1
Garden Village 2 Penyrheol
0
(Rachel D, Charlie)
Squad: Alex (capt), Rachel D,
Katie W, Charlie, Vicky, Jess, Rachel K
The first matches of the new season for the Under 11s were played on a lovely
sunny morning in Pentrehafod, which didn't make any difference to the girls, but
stunned and confused the parents, who are much more used to wind and rain.
The two girls teams found themselves playing each other in the first match.
Village Sport seemed to have decided to go easy on Garden Village for the first
half, but the Garden Village girls obviously felt no such qualms, and the half
finished at 4-0 with 2 goals each from Charlie and Rachel D.
Village Sport were much stronger in the second half, with some fine defending
from Lois and Jordan, and a couple of strong attacks up the full length of the
pitch from Alys. Katie W, keen to catch up, scored 2 goals , and the match
finished 6-0 to Garden Village. Landore drew 0-0 with Penyrheol.
The second set of matches saw Village Sport playing Penyrheol, and Garden
Village against Landore.
Garden Village played confidently against Landore, with Katie W opening the
scoring, closely followed by Rachel D. With Jess not too troubled, thanks to
Vicky, Rachel K and Alex in defence, Garden Village pushed forward in the second
half, enabling defender Alex to score. Not to be left out, Charlie added to the
total, giving Garden Village a 4-0 win.
In the third and final set of matches, Village Sport played Landore, and Garden
Village played Penyrheol.
Garden Village were keen to win their final match of the day against Penyrheol,
and set to with determination. Some lovely football led to Rachel eventually
finding the net (after booting one way over), and the first half finished 1-0 to
Garden Village. The second half saw the girls so determined to push forward and
score again that, at one point Alex found herself (successfully) fending off 4
Penyrheol players alone in the Garden Village half. After some
"discussion" between Louise and the girls, it was decided that perhaps
more than one defender was required. Jess, as usual, confidently defended the
goal until Charlie was able to slam home a second goal, securing the girls
another win, and a clean sheet for the first Sunday of the season.
All in all, a fine start, or as the Ramones used to say, "Hey Ho, Lets
Go!"
Garden Village U11's
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