It was a fantastic day for our u8 Diamonds to have their first experience of playing in the Derbyshire Girls League, on the day the new Racecourse Football Hub hosted its first games.

For their first match the Diamonds played Doveridge - as Wildcats centres these two teams have met previously so it was great to get underway against familiar faces.

Unfortunately, Doveridge were a player down, but their players stuck at it and played a gutsy game.

Sophia had a shot in the first minute and their ‘keeper was being kept busy as the early stages were predominately played in Doveridge’s half. Diamonds dropped a player to level things up and Diamonds’ ‘keeper faced three brave challenges presented by Doveridge’s speedy striker, as a friendly game continued in good spirit.

A reshuffle resulted in Frankie coming out of goal, with Sukhman taking the ‘keeper’s jersey. Doveridge built up a head of steam with some good attacking play. Diamonds responded well, demonstrating some well drilled passing. There was a five minute spell of end to end play, with Diamonds hitting the crossbar, followed by successful attempts and scores for both teams.

Azura had several good attempts at goal and the girls seemed to flow nicely with positioning and speed seen from Romy providing good service to the attackers. Frankie was enjoying her time out of goal, running up and down the pitch from defence to attack, and was put through confidently by Sophia for a good shot. Nancy also had a good shot after tipping the ball over the Doveridge defender and keeper - having done it twice it appears to be her signature move!

The girls were buzzing to have played their first game and the signs are that Tuesday night training is paying off well - Romy said; “it was fun and exciting!” We hope it is the first of many happy memories the Diamonds make together:)