Vale Girls (under 16s) 0 Troedyrhiw 3 (From Barry And District News)

Vale Girls (under 16s) 0 Troedyrhiw 3

2:00pm Thursday 21st March 2013 in Sport

VALE GIRLS (Under 16s) 0 TROEDYRHIW 3

TABLE-TOPPING Troedyrhiw, who boast six Welsh internationals and are averaging seven goals a game, were the visitors to Maslin Park, Barry Island, on a bitterly cold afternoon.

Despite the stiff opposition, the Vale soccer side more than held their own in the opening exchanges and Millie Jones had a fine shot well saved. Vale continued to press and showed some excellent passing movements.

However, Troedyrhiw came more into the game and, after several attacks, scored from a long shot which beat Rebecca in the Vale goal. The visitors continued to press but the Vale defence stood firm to deny all their efforts.

Emily Hill had a good chance to equalise just before half time but her effort was saved. There was some attractive football from both sides at the start of the second half and it was a very good game from a spectator’s point of view.

Vale goalkeeper Rebecca pulled off two tremendous saves to deny the visitors and the next quarter of an hour was even, with both sides having several chances. Troedyrhiw continued to press forward but were frustrated by a hard-tackling Vale defence in which Niamh Teague, Kayleigh Dutton and Shanice Donovan had fine games. Shanaz Masani and Lucia Attanasio were also commanding at the back and kept the opposition at bay until, with just three minutes left, an excellent shot from distance gave the Vale ‘keeper no chance. With the game entering injury time, a corner was, unfortunately, headed into her own net by a Vale player.

Despite the defeat and the scoreline, this was, without doubt, Vale’s best performance of the season and manager Gino Esposito praised every player for the part played against such a very strong side. The team now face Porthcawl in the South Wales League Cup quarter-final.

In their cup quarter-final, the Vale Under 14s were beaten 10- 1 by another strong Troedyrhiw side.