Post by Dave on Jan 30, 2011 18:49:59 GMT
Well there was no need to leave home three hours before kick-off to watch a game this afternoon, no big long queues to worry about and I knew before I left, the winners of the game most certainly stood no chance of Playing Manchester United.
I left home at 1.50pm for the 2pm kick –off at Stokes ground and I thought please not again as the kick-off ended up being delayed. The club had just not allowed enough time to get all the fans in, sorry only joking the bloody referee did not bother to turn up for the match.
So after a discussion between the stoke manager and the Bideford manager as to who was going to be the acting referee, the Stoke manager got the job and on the whole did not do too bad of a job.
It was certainly a pleasant afternoon due to the winter sunshine and not to cold as long as I could keep the sun on my me. Not something I was always able to do as the lineman kept getting in the way of the shots I was after and so I had to move a few times behind the fence that the new stand etc is being built behind.
Ant only had nine players in his team when they took on Bideford at home and so nearly won the match and so I was unsure just how good a side Bideford were. I watched their warm up and the ball was being rolled to their number nine in the box and she was smashing the ball into the net for fun with such power.
Stoke were missing a number of first team players and for a good part of the first half were getting passed of the park by a very good and neat passing side that Bideford proved to be.
Bideford took the lead after ten minutes when a neat ball was played from the midfield out to their right winger. She got her head down and went on a fine run and delivered an inch perfect ball to the number 9? Who coolly hit the ball first time past the Stoke keeper.
The Stoke ladies were working hard enough and getting stuck into their tackles, but failed mostly to play the right sort of balls up to their forward players. As a result they never created one really decent chance on goal during the first half.
On to the second half and the Stoke ladies had clearly taken onboard the managers half time team talk. He wanted them to use the width of the pitch more when they had the ball and get in tighter when they didn’t. Stokes right winger number eleven started getting a lot wider and was doing some excellent work out there for her team.
Stoke made the score one all after their number seven played a great defence spitting pass, She had the ball at her feet in the midfield and played a very tame pass that went straight to a Bideford player. She went and won the ball back, looked up and played the perfect through ball that number thirty six got on the end off, who then took the ball on a few yards before blasting it past the Bideford keeper.
Stoke were clearly on top now and created a number of good chances that kept the Bideford keeper very busy, but it was Bideford who so nearly scored the next goal. Their left winger was showing such wonderful skills, twisting turning and always finding a team mate with her passes. She went on a fine run and put a good ball into the box that got cleared our for a corner.
The ball came in and Stoke failed to get it clear and it fell to a Bideford forward who hit it first time and it only just went past the post. But up the other end the powerful Stoke ladies were just proving too much to handle for the tiring Bideford defence.
Big gaps were opening up everywhere in the Bideford defence and I felt it was only a matter of time before Stoke scored again. They did and it was the power and strength of their number eight who just went through challenge after challenge before beating the keeper on her near post from a tight angle.
Stoke could have added to their lead and the post came to Bideford’s rescue twice before the referee brought the match to an end.
I left home at 1.50pm for the 2pm kick –off at Stokes ground and I thought please not again as the kick-off ended up being delayed. The club had just not allowed enough time to get all the fans in, sorry only joking the bloody referee did not bother to turn up for the match.
So after a discussion between the stoke manager and the Bideford manager as to who was going to be the acting referee, the Stoke manager got the job and on the whole did not do too bad of a job.
It was certainly a pleasant afternoon due to the winter sunshine and not to cold as long as I could keep the sun on my me. Not something I was always able to do as the lineman kept getting in the way of the shots I was after and so I had to move a few times behind the fence that the new stand etc is being built behind.
Ant only had nine players in his team when they took on Bideford at home and so nearly won the match and so I was unsure just how good a side Bideford were. I watched their warm up and the ball was being rolled to their number nine in the box and she was smashing the ball into the net for fun with such power.
Stoke were missing a number of first team players and for a good part of the first half were getting passed of the park by a very good and neat passing side that Bideford proved to be.
Bideford took the lead after ten minutes when a neat ball was played from the midfield out to their right winger. She got her head down and went on a fine run and delivered an inch perfect ball to the number 9? Who coolly hit the ball first time past the Stoke keeper.
The Stoke ladies were working hard enough and getting stuck into their tackles, but failed mostly to play the right sort of balls up to their forward players. As a result they never created one really decent chance on goal during the first half.
On to the second half and the Stoke ladies had clearly taken onboard the managers half time team talk. He wanted them to use the width of the pitch more when they had the ball and get in tighter when they didn’t. Stokes right winger number eleven started getting a lot wider and was doing some excellent work out there for her team.
Stoke made the score one all after their number seven played a great defence spitting pass, She had the ball at her feet in the midfield and played a very tame pass that went straight to a Bideford player. She went and won the ball back, looked up and played the perfect through ball that number thirty six got on the end off, who then took the ball on a few yards before blasting it past the Bideford keeper.
Stoke were clearly on top now and created a number of good chances that kept the Bideford keeper very busy, but it was Bideford who so nearly scored the next goal. Their left winger was showing such wonderful skills, twisting turning and always finding a team mate with her passes. She went on a fine run and put a good ball into the box that got cleared our for a corner.
The ball came in and Stoke failed to get it clear and it fell to a Bideford forward who hit it first time and it only just went past the post. But up the other end the powerful Stoke ladies were just proving too much to handle for the tiring Bideford defence.
Big gaps were opening up everywhere in the Bideford defence and I felt it was only a matter of time before Stoke scored again. They did and it was the power and strength of their number eight who just went through challenge after challenge before beating the keeper on her near post from a tight angle.
Stoke could have added to their lead and the post came to Bideford’s rescue twice before the referee brought the match to an end.
