A challenging first away game of the season saw the girls face a strong Crosspool side, with the match finishing 5-0. Despite the result, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance and lots to be proud of.

The sun was shining at Crosspool creating a great buzz and we started off brightly, playing fantastically in the first half. Crosspool were dominating possession but our defense held firm, blocking their attempts and girl of the game Annie and fellow defender Ella showed bright prospects. Despite our defense continuing to frustrate the hosts, Crosspool's first goal came just before the half time whistle.

We came out for the second half determined to get back into the game and continued to work hard. As the half progressed, Crosspool were able to find more space and we conceded four further goals, but the scoreline doesn't reflect the effort and commitment shown by the girls throughout the match.

We never stopped running and all the girls showed determination and promise. Lily had a great shot that unfortunately came in too high and Emily P, Lourdes and Nyla all covered incredible distance when we took back possession of the ball.

The game has given us some really useful areas to work on in training, particularly our positioning and finding our teammates with passes when we regain possession. These are all part of the girls' development, and games like this will help us grow and become more confident as a team.

We didn't get the result we wanted and it has highlighted our need to work on positioning and passing to open players, to reduce the opposition's dominance of possession. Overall the girls displayed their resilience and fought until the final whistle and given our defeat to Crosspool was more than double this last season, the girls have displayed again how far they have improved as a team.

A tough afternoon, but plenty of positives to build on. Well done, girls — the hard work continues!