Morecambe Ladies vs Leeds Ladies 3rd January 2016.

After pulling myself through Christmas and the New Year, desperately willing time to pass so I could get my Leeds Ladies gear on and go support the girls, the day came when the LLFC barmy army travelled to Morecambe for a game which we were very confident of winning. We did not however anticipate the weather to be quite disgusting and Arctic-like! We headed inside for about half an hour before kick-off. We went back outside and took our positions outside the fenced 4G pitch which the girls took to like a duck to water (quite a fitting pun to use!) Kick-off came and we started passing the ball beautifully, creating some good chances and it almost warmed me up as it had a Brazil feel to the passing game. I shall thank Em Starkie for that! I can't quite remember what minute it was in, but I do remember the goal very well. Rachael Ackroyd got played onside with a delightful ball through and she clinically finished the move with a sublime goal to make it 0-1 to the girls. Not long afterwards, a brilliant strike from Bridie Hannon gave us a two goal cushion and it's fair to say, we all went mental over the goal. She then hit the crossbar with a beautiful long range shot and she was extremely unlucky not to see it go in. The rest of the first hal was all Leeds but we got caught out right at the end of the first half when Morecambe pushed forward and pulled one back to give them some hope.

Second half, we started brightly but again we got caught out when Morecambe got their equalizer which left the girls feeling deflated. We then found some fighting spirit thanks to our new centre back Jodie Hunter who can I say, played brilliantly and commanded the defence fantastically. We took the game to Morecambe for the majority of the second half until an unbelievable second goal from Bridie sent us Leeds lot delirious. I wish I had videoed it as it truly was magnificent.  The girls surrounded her and there was passion and belief that oozed out again as has been the case this season. The rest of the game ended in a scrappy fashion and I can say that some of the referee's decisions were very questionable. Two stonewall penalties were turned down. 

Player of the match for me was Bridie Hannon, in a new holding midfielder role and scoring two unbelievable goals, I can see her absolutely nailing it for us for the rest of the season. A special mention goes to Georgia Wattam as she was absolutely brave in every goalkeeping decision she made, especially when taking a blow to the ribs. She's going to be a future number 1 for England! 

On a personal note, I didn't get chance to give Bentz her birthday/Christmas present due to a game being called off so I took the chancw after the game and she was very appreciative which is completely down to earth of her (as usual). She did give me a giggle when she said "I'll be drinking these on the way home...er no I can't, I'm driving!". Brilliant from her!


 Next week's game against Chorley shall be another fun filled day for the LLSFC Barmy Arny and the girls I believe will get another win. The u16's and development teams are also playing too.



Me and Gary Cooper getting a much more human-looking photo after the tragically hilarious photo from before!















And the girls in action.