Following two very good performances against two good teams, this was as they say after the Lord Majors Show. Against a depleted Garston side The Belles found it a little more difficult to raise the game to the heights of the previous two weeks, but still came out with a 7-0 win, so that cannot be too bad can it? Well yes it can. It must however be appreciated that it is human nature at times just to what you need to do and no more. Also regular substitutions can and does disrupt the team rhythm, and that did happen today for sure.. That is purely the managers responsibilty, but on days like today it was easy to make sure that everybody got plenty of decent playing time. Today was a classic case of everything that has just been said. Yes we are top of the league, five wins out of five, the league table does not lie. End of rant, and on to the facts of the day.

In the early stages of the match The Belles were spreading the ball out wide, and using the space very well. Amy Garrett was getting in a few crosses that came to nothing. But it was only a matter of time before somebody got on the end of one. And after five minutes Amy pulled one back from the bye line which found Katie Davis, who scored with a first time shot from six yards. A minute later it was 2-0, and this time it was Desiree Yearwood who crossed from left. This time Katie took one touch before chipping the ball into the top corner from twelve yards. At this stage The Belles were maintaining their early momentum, and several good chances were created,but the Garston keeper was making some good saves, notably from Katie and Clare Howe. Clare then added a third goal after eleven minutes when she took full advantage of a poor clearance and her shot from just inside the penalty area left the keeper with no chance. Four minutes later it was 4-0, again it stemmed from the right. A good move which started with a Laura Pethybridge pass sending Amy down the right. She fed in a short ball, to ? Clare I think who then rolled the ball into the path of Leanne Lizaitis. Leanne then finished with a cross shot into the far corner from ten yards out, a very well worked goal. Once again the Garston keeper performed some heroics to keep the score down until three minutes before half time when Katie completed her hat-trick to give The Belles a 5-0 lead

The second half was almost a non event as The Belles were unable to add to their lead, some of that must go down to some stubborn defending by Garston and some more good saves by the keeper. As the half wore on it did not look as though there would be any further goals. But with three minutes left Leanne set off on a solo run from the half way line and as the keeper came out to narrow the angle, she calmly rolled the ball into the bottom corner. Then in the last minute Desiree held off the challenge of three defenders before crossing the ball to Beth Smith who scored from close range.

At the end of the day it was a comfortable win, nobody stood out, but despite the manager being slightly dissapointed with the team performance, nobody can be found guilty of lack of effort. It is difficult to concentrate throughout in these kind of games. Lets then look forward to another more sterner test, which will again bring out the very best of this fast developing group of young players, of whom there is a lot more to come.

Todays squad, Thea Fraser, Laura Pethybridge, Megan Willmott, Serena Lawrence, Kate Harte, Bethany Smith, Amy Garrett, Leanne Lizaitis, Katie Davis, Clare Howe, Deseree Yearwood, Alicia McIntosh, Alice Bowler, Alex Matcham

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