U11 MATCH REPORT | PRIDE PARK LIONESSES 0-2 MELBOURNE DYNAMO

Lionesses’ terrific DGLL Mini-Soccer cup run came to an end yesterday but for our Group 2 team to put in a performance and get a result like this against a high Group 1 team is an absolute triumph. The game was not far off equal throughout, with a lot of the possession being with Pride Park. An exciting game saw us continue our fluid passing and moving, threatening Melbourne’s goal throughout. Often, we did all the hard work and just couldn’t take that quick look up to get the cross away to a player in space.

Melbourne’s pressure and closing down was very good so they made it hard for us – but we had some excellent chances, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Two well-struck Pride Park penalties were expertly saved by the Melbourne goalie, so the rub of the green wasn’t with us today - and we definitely needed a bit of that to progress past a very strong Melbourne team.

All the girls did an exceptional job - DEF was strong, MID created loads of forward play and dropped back to defend, the FORWARD’s had chances at goal and we were close to converting at least 3 of those chances into goals.

But without doubt, the player that shone the brightest for us was Sofia our GK, what an absolutely brilliant game for her – everything we’ve been doing in training we saw yesterday – coming off her line with confidence, high/low catches, K barrier, decision making - everything was spot on.

Our parents always choose the PofM by means of voting and we were pleased to see Sofia win the award as she thoroughly deserved it. We had a few tears at the end, but we praised the wonderful achievement of the girls in getting this far. We are very proud of how they've played in the Cup games, and how well they've progressed this season.

Overall, an excellent effort against an excellent team, we wish Melbourne all the success in the final.
Gary