Women's U21 Match Reports

On Sunday the Shropshire Ladies Under 21's squad correctly reset their clocks and turned up at Stourport to take part in the Midlands Under 21's tournament. The tournament was played in a round robin format with Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire competing along with Shropshire. 

Picture of the squad, some celebrations and some penalty corner action.

The first match proved a rude awakening for the Shropshire side as constant battering by Derbyshire put 5 goals away in the first half. Following a searching half time talk from coach Mark Groves, the ladies got into the swing of things and forced the play to Derbyshire. Leah Summer in goal had a great tournament making save after save.Effective marshalling of the defence by Emma Harper contained Derbys but they were unlucky to concede a very late goal. Playing a strong Worcestershire side, Shropshire started to show a bit more composition with Emily Davies combining well with Stacey Nevin. Shropshire were unlucky to be 2-0 down at half time but had the resilience to bounce back; Claire Pearson chased what seemed like a lost ball and pulled it back for Lucy Jones to push it home. Worcestershire upped the pace and scored three sublime goals that Leah had little chance to react to - leaving the final score - 5-1. This was a game that Shropshire started to get together and they must have been saving themselves for the following match as they burst into life against Staffordshire. Nic Hinton and Lucy Ratcliffe ran their socks off as Shropshire ran at Staffordshire but Staffs scored from a short even though it looked as if they had broken the circle. Fired up Shropshire pressed and great work from Pearson secured a penalty flick that Ratcliffe confidently put away - game on. Shropshire continued to press and were awarded a penalty corner in the dying seconds; a great injection from Ratcliffe to Harper allowed Ratcliffe to deflect the ball deftly into the net - a great 2-1 victory. The final match against Northamptonshire once again saw shear determination from Shropshire as Pips Tompkinson and Emma Weaver broke down the Northants attack and progressed play forward. Northants pressed and put themselves one goal ahead but Shropshire retaliated and pulled the score back to equal. In the second half Hinton continued to run at Northants linking well with Nat Clarke. Hannah Jones made some great interception tackles in defence to frustrate the Northants attack.Two very dubious umpiring decision gifted Northants two goals - one from a penalty corner and one from a penalty flick when it was considered the ball hit a Shropshire foot but it had hit the goal post.

Sarah Gaskill Manager said 'All in all Shropshire gained in confidence as the day went one with great keeping from Sumner, timely tackles from Harper and superb midfield input from Hinton and Ratcliffe. The players gave their all and I was very proud of them. With this base to build on we will be back next year'

Players in the squad: Emma Harper (Captain), Donna Reynolds, Lucy Ratcliffe, Leah Sumner (all Whitchurch), Naralie Clarke, Stacey Nevin (Wrekin), Emily Davies (Ludlow), Nicola Hinton (Bridgnorth), Emma Weaver (Bishops Castle), Lucy Jones, Hannah Jones, Pips Tompkinson (Shrewsbury). Coach Mark Groves.