Recently, AFC Bournemouth’s under-14 girls travelled to fellow Premier League side, Crystal Palace, for the semi-final of the Surrey FA Cup.
The game started at a good pace, resulting in a few early corners following good work wide from Emily, Elle and Sophie.
Against a strong headwind, the Cherries had a spell where they struggled to maintain possession, with the opponents pressing forward and consequently converting from a corner for the lead.
Despite going behind, the girls worked hard to get themselves back into the game and Faith soon levelled the scoreline, who converted Hannah F’s through ball.
With half time approaching, another Palace corner resulted in a scramble in the box, which was poked home to give the hosts a narrow lead.
Following the break, AFC Bournemouth looked to maintain possession in higher areas, proving a wise move.
After eight minutes of the second half, the Cherries found a breakthrough. Hannah H. received the ball on the edge of the box and turned neatly before slotting a finish into the bottom left corner to level up the scoreline once again.
The AFC Bournemouth dominance in the second half created further chances, none more so than Kitty hitting the crossbar from distance, before some further efforts from Elle, Lucy and Hannah.
Restricting the opponents to counter attacks, unfortunately with five minutes left one of these was converted through a long ball wide and a great switch of play, which was converted by the Palace wide player.
At this stage, chasing the game somewhat, a long ball from their goalkeeper flew over the top of the Cherries defence and was duly converted by their striker to put the game outside of the visitors’ grasp.
While disappointed to exit the competition, the players performed admirably and can certainly be proud of their efforts in what was a very competitive match.
