Thatcham FC’s ground was the venue for the Hearts Lynx U13’s girls trophy final. A very hot Saturday brought together the only two teams in East Berkshire who play in orange, forcing Hearts to change to their white away kit (shirts reversed!).

The biggest concern pre-match was trying to get the girls to save enough energy for the match, with excitement reaching fever pitch, a face painting session pre-match seemingly was not the best way to save energy but showed that the girls were going to enjoy the day no matter what!

We needn’t have worried as the girls started very strongly dominating the possession and territory, resulting in a quick-fire double for Molly Roscoe inside the first 15 minutes, the 1st a composed finish when through on goal, and the 2nd from a goal mouth scramble.

Just when it felt like it would be a relaxing afternoon for parents and coaches, Wokingham produced an excellent individual goal with their first attack to pull one back. The girls didn’t panic and immediately went back on the attack, relentless pressure resulting in a fine finish by Martha Orrock to see the girls go in 3-1 at halftime.

The heat seemed to take its toll on both teams in the 2nd half but with Hearts being able to rotate their 4 subs vs Wokingham’s 1 (something which seemed unlikely at the start of the season when we were struggling to get new players) it seemed inevitable that another Hearts goal would come.

However, another long-range shot from Wokingham saw them reduce the score to 3-2 and bring back the nerves on the sidelines with only 10 minutes to go. Thankfully a strong run through the middle of the defence by Molly taking her past the onrushing keeper settled the nerves and the game, completing her hat-trick and scoring for a well-deserved 4-2 victory.

As our captain Aggy Crinnion lifted the trophy it felt like just a reward for a fantastic season, with every one of the girls having played their part backed by fantastic support from family and friends!