PREMIER LEAGUE SCHOOLS' TOURNAMENT GROUP STAGE- 9TH MAY

PREMIER LEAGUE SCHOOLS’ TOURNAMENT- GROUP STAGE

CHS’ under 13 girls represented Stoke City today (Thursday 9^th May) at Anfield in the annual Premier League Schools’ Tournament. The day marked one of the biggest in CHS’ PE history and the PE staff went into the tournament knowing it would be tough but if the team performed like they did in qualifying then they would have a good chance of going through to the semi-finals.  

Match 1- v Reading

Straight from the whistle CHS put pressure on Reading’s defence. Emma Nisbit’s shot was saved and Amy Rodger’s rebound was also saved. However, it was soon 1-0 to CHS, when Amy Rodgers beautifully skipped past the defence before her shot hit the post but Nisbit was on hand to score the rebound. It seemed as if the CHS support from their friends in the stands inspired CHS, who were unlucky not to have doubled their lead, firstly when CHS saw a goal disallowed for going out of play, even though the CHS players and support didn’t think so. The luck didn’t change for CHS when a shot hit the crossbar. The result was 1-0 to CHS.

Match 2- v Fulham
CHS got off to a great start when Amy Rodger’s half volley found the net from just outside the area. 1-0 CHS. Hollie Massey saw her shot rattle the crossbar but soon after Massey scored a blinder from outside the area to give CHS a 2-0 lead. Massey was denied again when her shot hit the underside of the cross-bar and didn’t bounce how she would have hoped. The result was 2-0 to CHS.

Match 3- v West Ham

In the opening minutes, Lydia Bennett made her first save of the tournament with a good save to deny West Ham scoring the opener. CHS weren’t given the space in attack they had in the other group games but Massey found space and drilled her low shot into the bottom right corner. CHS managed to hold onto their one goal lead but after some sloppy defending, West Ham counter attacked but Bennett watched as the ball went beyond her far post. The result was 1-0 to CHS.

Match 4- v Norwich

CHS knew that a draw would be enough to secure a semi-final place but they were not going to play for a draw they wanted to take three points. CHS soon took the lead when Massey scored another blinder this one from at least 20 yards out, which proved why she was selected for the national U-15 team. Within minutes CHS, were looking like they were going through to the semi-final after Amy Rodgers doubled CHS’ lead when she struck the ball into the net. Norwich got straight back into the game with two goals in minutes. The first was the first goal Bennett had conceded all tournament after CHS left space in defence for Norwich’s attackers. The score was then quickly levelled when CHS failed to close down Norwich’s attackers, before the attacker placed a shot in the bottom corner. Massey couldn’t add to her tally of 3 for the tournament as she saw her shot rattle the crossbar for the third time in fourth matches. The result was 2-2 which secured a semi-final place for CHS.

Written by Adam Bailey