Derry Hill United News

Chippenham Town Ladies Tournament - DHUFC U10 Girls Runners-Up
Many congratulations to the girls for getting to the Final of the Chippenham Town Ladies FC Under-10 Tournament yesterday. The 6 girls who made up today's squad excelled themselves all morning (and well into the afternoon) in very difficult blustery conditions at Hullavington airfield. The team remained unbeaten right up to the Final, beating Swindon Badgers and Gloucester City, as well as FC Chippenham A and Chippenham Town teams. Goalless draws against Swindon Spitfires and FC Chippenham B meant we ended up runners up in the round-robin section, having won 4 and drawn 2. Elsie had a spectacular goal direct from a corner to win the game against Gloucester (right footed inswinger from the right - wind assisted!!). The match against Spitfires was completely one-sided and we had a goal ruled out with the last kick of the match (some opinions were that it came back of the stanchion, but the referee claimed it hit the post).

In the semi-finals we beat Gloucester City again, by 2-1 after being 2-0 up at half-time, while Spitfires were knocking out Wilts u-10 Cup winners Swindon Badgers. This set up another game against Spitfires in the Final. Unfortunately Spits sneaked an early goal, and despite Derry Hill laying siege to the Spits goal for almost the rest of the game they just could not force an equaliser. It was a disappointing end to a great display, and despite having the support of Badgers cheering us on (against their local rivals) in the end only having 6 players probably was decisive, the girls were all out on their feet by the end after playing 8 matches with no subs (whereas Spits had a squad of 8 players).

4 goals each today for Hannah (in one match, thats 7 in the last 2 tournaments) and Alison, three for Elsie and one for Hazel (a wonderful solo run). Katie and Ellie played their part as well excelling in defence, Katie also went agonisingly close to scoring on several occasions. Credit to all the girls as well for taking turns playing in goal, to only concede 3 goals in 8 games is a fine achievement. I'm sure the girls feel a bit down at the moment having lost by a single goal in their first final, but hopefully they can reflect later on how well they have done again up against clubs from Swindon and Gloucester.

Thanks to all the supporters today, it was a long drawn-out affair but well worth it in the end, and how often will we be buzzed by gliders while watching football. Pity that the groundsman had not cut the grass shorter, it made playing good football very difficult.