V Rhyl and District 1s

W2s 8 - 1 Rhyl & District 1
In heavy rain (to start anyway), and barely 30 seconds in, Kez was already giving Wrexham their first opportunity on goal, alas no goal. First goal came moments later as Ellis ran down the left side, beautiful reverse pass to Georgia who finished it, Rhyl left on the back foot. Wrexham secured their second within minutes after receiving two short corners in quick succession and converting it on the second attempt with a straight strike shot from Ellis. 2-0 up in 4 minutes! The ladies continued to press forward but Rhyl were finally in the game challenging for every ball, the play was mostly within the middle. Eventually Phoebe, Kez and Georgia were able to make some runs into the D with support from Poppy but chances went wide. Gemma P was holding her own against strong, experienced opposition and sometimes out pacing them. Rhyl had their first scoring opportunity but confidently cleared by Erica in 15th minute. With a quick turn over, ball was down the other end with Kez, shot across and Phoebe providing the last touch to make it 3-0. Up until this moment Laila was going to have a quiet game until she challenged a Rhyl player on the baseline and succeeded. Fourth goal started with Phoebe running from the half way line on the left, passing at least three players (including the Rhyl twins), into the D, shot which rebounded off the GK, a scramble to control the ball, found it’s way to Kez who find a gap and struck it cleanly. Another missed opportunity was during Wrexham’s last attacking short corner of the first half. It came as Beth deflected the ball with her foot. Rhyl were now on the counter and creating more chances , luckily the dynamic defending team of Beth, Erica and Grita kept it a clean sheet towards half time. Wrexham’s 5th goal came from the back through to Kez with space for her to drive in, straight strike and goal in 32minutes. With one minute to go, Wrexham went down to 10 players after Kez received a green card for knocking the ball away after the whistle was blown.
Without the rain, second half started strongly despite being a player down. Chances were created, Beth and Gemma P on the right side finding the pockets, Ellis and Poppy on the left. Upon her return, Kez found moments to drive the ball in. Ffion and Phoebe playing some lovely one -two touch hockey down the line. Rhyl’s only goal came from playing down the right side, passed across and converted in a similar manner to Wrexham’s first. They continued to seek their second and despite frantic scrambling in the D, our defenders and keeper kept their heads. 58th minute, a long ball came upfield to Hatty who went one on one with the GK, a good effort, but no goal. Back in our defending end, Beth was on her own against a lone Rhyl player before Grita swooped in to support and clear. 65th minute, another Wrexham goal was converted from a short corner, strike from Ellis, back to Phoebe, round to Beth and deflected in the goal by Rhyl. With only 5 minutes to go, Rhyl were still going strong but Wrexham had more chances and within the last minute of the game, our final goal came in from a shot off Phoebe, deflected off the GK who dived down for the rebound but Phoebe brought it round to the right and slotted it home. Great win