23rd January - Results Round-up

After a six week lay-off you could be forgiven for worrying that your team wouldn't be able to pick up from where they left off before Christmas and the rain, snow, frost etc.  Thankfully today showed that whilst some of the performances owed more to ring-rustiness rather than flowing football, the girls playing for Doncaster Belles are resilient by nature.

The Under 10's recorded a very pleasing 3-0 home win against Wickersley Youth Reds to keep themselves in 3rd place in the league.  The league leaders Millmoor beat 4th placed Wickersley Youth Blues 4-0 to make the gap between Wickersley and the top 3 almost a chasm (13 points with Wickersley having played 2 matches more than the Belles).  2nd placed Dronfield Town despatched 7th placed Crosspool 6-1 as all 3 top clubs won at home.

In one of only two games played today at Under 11 Division 'A' level, the Belles lost 1-0 to top of the table Middlewood Rovers.  Whilst the result may have proved disappointing (but not unexpected) for the young Belles, the performance was one to take great heart from as they hit Middlewood's wood-work no fewer than 6 times during the match.  Thankfully the defeat hasn't cost the Belles too much though as 5th placed Wickersley Youth would have hoped to capitalise on the Belles result by winning at home against 8th placed Throstles and closing the gap on the 4th placed Belles to 2 points albeit that Wickersley have played a game more.  That wasn't to be today, as Wickersley must have suffered from prolonged inaction and went down 1-0 in a surprise home defeat.

No ring-rustiness for the Belles representatives at Under 12's as the Division 1 leaders thumped 2nd from bottom Dronfield Town in a nostalgic home match played on the sloping (well drained) pitch at Ryecroft Road.  The Belles scorers were Lauren Breen (3) Jamie Allan (2) Charlotte Finch (1) Georgia Dunn (1) Ciara McKenna (with her first for the club) and Yasmin Molby (1).  With the league website not having been updated yet I'm unable to report on how well or otherwise the Belles opponents in the division have performed.

The Under 13's would have loved to get a game  of football today and were within 10 minutes of doing so away at Steel City, until the referee declared the pitch unfit.  In truth, a recent rugby match and poor drainage had left the pitch more suited to battlefield re-enactment or rice growing than football, but we'd have given it a go!  Yet another postponement to leave the Belles side playing every Saturday now until August 2014!

The Belles Under 15's side travelled to deepest darkest Barnsley for today's match to play a 7th placed home team (the Belles are 5th!).  A tough match was always on the cards as Barnsley have strengthened significantly in recent weeks with a coupld of ex-centre of excellence players and the odd transferee.  Even so, the term 'shellshocked' wouldn't have been out of place as the home team raced into a first half 3-0 lead, before the Belles brought the half-time score back to 3-2 with goals from Emily Weatherstone  (a cracker from 18 yards) and Sophie Foxon-Wise (another little beauty apparently!).  In the 2nd half, the Belles piled on the pressure and got justly rewarded when Rachel Pritchard scored the equaliser as the Belles came away satisfied with a well fought draw which might yet prove to be an excellent result against a fast improving Tykes side.

The atmosphere was tense on the 'big' pitch at Ryecroft Road today as Rotherham United faced an Under 16's Belles side, who at times looked like 11 strangers assembled for a casual kick-about in the park.  The Belles took an early lead, which you might have thought would be likely to settle any nerves... wrong! Late in the first half, Rotherham were awarded a penalty which they converted to take the match into a half-time draw.  In the second half, play improved slightly (possibly due in part to the motivational half-time team talk).  The final score was 3-2 to the Belles which although not a great performance certainly assumed the mantle of a great result as leaders Sheffield Wednesday apparently suffered more than most from the mince pie and feet-up-on-the-couch effect as they recorded a 2-2 draw with 3rd placed Barnsley Ladies (like what I predicted... almost!).  This now leaves Wednesday 4 points clear of the Belles but having played 3 games more... and sets up nicely for a spicy Wednesday/Belles cup tie next weekend.

The Under 18's were the only 11-a-side team to get a match at Balby Carr today on the 3G pitch as they dismantled 5th placed Dronfield Town 8-1 in a game whiich sends out a bold statement of intent.  With leaders Sheffield Wednesday beating 3rd place Rotherham United 3-1, the extra Belles goals have reduced the goal difference quite nicely, so that a once massive differential to Wednesday's advantage, has now been reduced to a single goal, with the Sheffield side having played a game more.  When league action resumes in 2 weeks time, the Belles opposition (Steel City) are lower placed that Wednesday's opposition (Dronfield) and the race is likely to be well and truly on to see who can rack up the biggest margin wins as the prospect of a goal-difference decided divisional championship begins to loom!

Good luck to everybody in cup action next weekend - the preview is already posted on the site.   

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