North girls go Inter last four of Trophy
SCHOOLS FOOTBALL
NORTHUMBERLAND Under-16 Girls defeated Derbyshire 7-5 to reach the semi-finals of the ESFA National Inter-County Trophy - the furthest the county has ever gone in the competition.
North flew out of the blocks and tested Derbyshire straight from the kick-off.
On six minutes, Erin Nelson (Whitley Bay) slid the ball through to Jayden Maxwell (Benfield) who beat her defender and finished well in the bottom-left corner.
North remained on the attack via Anna Soulsby (Gosforth), who delivered a decent ball into the box which was claimed comfortably by the Derby goalkeeper.
After 18 minutes, a long pass from Grace Ayre (Sacred Heart) to Soulsby allowed her to drive forward with the ball and produce a strike too hot to handle for the Derby goalkeeper - Maxwell on hand to knock in her second.
Only a minute later, Derby were awarded a free-kick fully 30 yards out.
A lofted speculative effort on goal tested goalkeeper Ella Metcalf, who got her finger tips to the ball but was unable to keep it out of the net.
The next five minutes saw North pressurise the Derby defence, a shot from Nelson pushed wide by the Derby goalkeeper and the resulting corner headed over the bar by Soulsby.
Derby went up the pitch and when the ball broke another speculative shot from distance found the North net to make the score 2-2.
It took just five minutes to produce another goal - and Derby took the lead as one of the team’s strikers latched on to a through ball and slotted home.
With half-time approaching, Bex Henderson (QEHS) showed good work to win a free-kick and it was Megan Farrell (JCSC) who took charge.
Her effort from distance flew into the top corner to bring North level at half-time.
North started the second period in positive mood and Megan Farrell saw her left-footed effort through a crowd of bodies reach the bottomleft corner to put North 3-2 up.
Derby again responded to equalise but, after another a period of end-to-end attacking, North regained the lead on 61 minutes.
Substitute goalkeeper Emily Aldcroft played the ball to Nelson wide on the left and she ran from her own half before cutting inside and finishing with a fantastic right-footed effort into the bottom right-hand corner.
The goalfest continued with substitute Alicia Mutrie (Seaton Burn) extending North’s advantage after a one-on-one with the Derby goalkeeper.
Again the home team responded to cut the lead to a single goal.
With three minutes added time to play, North only needed to keep possession but Soulsby saw an opportunity to go for another goal.
After good work down the right, she found Maxwell who completed her hat-trick to finally put an exciting game to bed.
The girls now proceed to the national semi-finals, where they will meet either Lancashire or Staffordshire early in March.