Thornton Wanderers Girls U12s 9-1 Great Harwood RoversThe Wanderers met Great Harwood on home turf for the second consecutive week to fulfil their league fixture. Hollie K placed one of several well taken corners in the box in the first minute creating opportunities. Great Harwood made some threatening breaks calling on defenders Victoria L, Catherine R and Stephanie M to intercept. Megan B celebrated a welcome return to great form by starting the impressive tally in the 4th minute. This was closely followed two minutes later when Hollie K scored the first of her hat trick. Lauren F, dependable as always fought hard in the middle winning tackles. Rebecca L asserted a comfortable early lead in the 10th minute tapping in a cross from Emily M. Lottie W took position in goal for the first half and denied Great Harwood soon after. The Wanderers continued to keep ample possession and piled pressure on the Great Harwood defence. Hollie K scored again in the 15th minute. Megan B then had three consecutive shots denied by an admirable Great Harwood keeper who was unlucky in narrowly conceding to Emily M in the 21st minute. The Wanderers did not have it all their way as Great Harwood tightened their defence for the remainder of the first half. Outstanding defending dispossessed Rebecca L in the 6 yard box denying the last opportunity for the Wanderers in the first half. Saffron H, Megan L, Emily H, Chloe H and Bethany L all joined the action at the start of the second half. Stephanie M powered a shot from way back to score in the 32nd minute. Megan L made some useful tackles and won possession on several occasions before having to retire early injured. The Wanderers gave away a free kick on the edge of their area allowing Great Harwood the opportunity to score a cracking goal in the top left hand corner. Keeper Bethany L did well to get her finger tips to it. The Wanderers still had some difficulty converting corners and missed some opportunities. Saffron H saw her shot rebound off the bar in the 44th minute. Hollie K completed her hat trick scoring from a stunning free kick on the edge of the area in the 46th minute. The Wanderers dominated for the rest of the match with several players being denied or dispossessed as the Great Harwood defence tightened again. Emily M and Megan B managed to find a way in to complete the tally of nine. Keeper Bethany made one final save in the 57th minute. Emily H nearly capitalised on a last minute wobble in the Great Harwood defence but their keeper stayed alert. Great Harwood nominated the Wanderers player of the match as Emily M. This was another comfortable win for the Wanderers but they must not become complacent as the league leaders lie in wait next week. ------ North Valleys Girls LeagueBarrowford Celtic Girls U11s 0-4 TCFC U11s Girls (A)A solid team performance from TCFC taking an early lead via Laura I. She finished off a well worked passing move that involved Hannah G, who played it to Sophie K on the left, she put the ball through to Saffy Q, she turned and sent the ball wide to Laura who applied a super finish a great team goal. The second came from a throw in from Hannah who did a nice one two with Sophie K, then sent the ball in - at pace - towards the near post and it went just inside the post for the second goal of the game to TCFC. The defence worked well with each other and both contributed to the excellent flowing moves during the game, not to mention preventing Barrowford from getting a shot in for the whole match. Saffron Q scored the next two goals for TCFC, taking her tally to 33 goals so far this season. The best of the two was a volley, a superb free kick sent in by Danielle J from the right, to the far left was met sweetly by Saffy who hit the ball on the volley across the keeper into the bottom corner. Lauren C came on in the second half for Sophie K and played very well on the left side of midfield and, Georgia D also got involved coming on for Laura I on the right also doing well. A great team performance today for a very solid looking TCFC team playing very much entertaining football. TCFC Goal Scorers:Hannah G, Laura I, Saffron Q (2) Thornton's Man of the Match:Hannah G --- Blackpool & District League:TCFC U12s 6-0 Blackpool Rangers U12sThornton threw a double six at Gamble Road, Burn Naze as they repeated last week's achievement with another 6 – 0 home win - this time against Blackpool Rangers. It took only 5 minutes for Thornton to open the scoring as Reece H, starting his first game of the season in reward for his patience and loyalty on the subs bench, was put through by Stevie S and curled the ball round the keeper from 12 yards. Thornton then laboured for the next 20 minutes to find a second goal. Reece thought he’d scored his and Thornton’s 2nd on 17 minutes, having made a perfectly timed run from an onside position to repeat his earlier success; unfortunately the referee’s assistant saw it otherwise. Thornton did manage two more, one after 27 minutes and then on the stroke of half time, to make the score line more accurately reflective of proceedings. Josh R struck home from 12 yards after Rangers failed to clear another Thornton attack and then Stevie S shimmied his way through the Rangers defence to score from close range. At the start of the 2nd half Callum M and Mark B were introduced up front in an attempt to put the game beyond all doubt and this they did within 10 minutes with 3 goals between them. Two minutes after the restart the Loz and Tom show got underway. Loz had a run at the defence and got brought down 25 yards out, Tom stepped up to hit the free kick and whilst the keeper managed to save it, he couldn’t hold onto the ball and Callum M was on hand to poke it home. After seven minutes Mark B thought he’d scored but was correctly adjudged to be offside, but two minutes later he was first to a through ball and made no mistake. A minute later Callum scored his second and Thornton’s sixth striking home with his left foot from 12 yards. More goals could have followed but Rangers battened down the hatches whilst Thornton rotated the substitutes to give everyone a decent run out. Alex R snuffed out the occasional dangerous situation at the back with his usual clinical precision, the midfield, particularly the centre were in commanding form and all the strikers were lively with Tom S yet again giving an industrious and versatile performance. A difficult man of the match decision with Stevie S getting the vote in the end TCFC Goal Scorers:Mark B, Callum M, 2, Joshua R Stephen S, Mark B Thornton's Man of the Match:Stephen S ---- Hogan Cup:TCFC U16s 4-0 Clifton Rangers U17sTCFC back playing Football. That's what it's all about and playing a team with a great manager and players that play the game the way it should be played. Every credit to Clifton and the officials from that team - they were great and gave TCFC a good game. TCFC started well and went a goal ahead thanks to Tom P who ghosted in for a header at the back post. In the second half goals from Ryan H, Jame P and Ben M gave the victory to TCFC. Well done to both sides and especially to Ref James Smith who once again had a very good game. Thornton's Man of the Match:Dane E ----- The views expressed on this page are those of the contributor and the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the BBC. | 
