Wight Eagles U13’s kicked off 2023 with a well-earned 4-1 win at home to Chineham at the weekend.
With the young Eagles having a reshuffle and moving some players around, the girls started brightly against a very well-organised Chineham side.
Poppy Downer was promoted to captain for her first game of the new year by leading by example by running up for a corner, the ball was whipped in by Lyla Cooke which kindly dropped for the Captain to lob the goalkeeper putting the girls 1-0 up.
The Eagles then pushed straightaway for a second with Kelsie Ronan setting up Poppy Rowland to extend their lead.
Shortly after the goal, the Eagles then found themselves defending, from the resulting set piece, the Island side managed to break quickly, getting the ball wide to Poppy Rowland who ran at the Chineham Midfield before knocking it through to Kelsie Ronan who burst through to place it across goal into the bottom corner, putting the Eagles 3-0 up at the break.
The 2nd half started with Chineham pressuring the Eagle’s back 4, with the away side bagging a goal straight after half-time.
Despite pressure from the away side, the home side had numerous opportunities to kill the game off and did so after a good ball down the right side to Imogen who ran in from a tight angle and slotted it home to round off a good win for a young Eagles side.
U13s Manager Scott Ronan said:
“The girls finished the year on a few defeats but we started this year afresh, changing a few players positions and doing extra fitness training with Jay Morris at Assassins boxing gym, with the girls looking like they are getting fitter and sharp.
“The girls have all done there job today and have all put the effort in. I’m super proud. I made Poppy Downer the new club captain and she was outstanding today and showed true leadership keeping the back line organised and solid.”
