WALES EASTER TOUR
PLAYED ON 18th-20th APRIL 2003
NEATH GIRLS 3 COLCHESTER LADIES 0
Kick Off Friday 18th April 18:15

Colchester’s first match of their Welsh tour was played on a hot evening with little breeze at the beautiful Llandarcy Park. Unfortunately the combination of the heat and the seven hours sat on a coach to Wales did not leave the girls focused to play a competitive football match against the Neath girls. Colchester had very few opportunities to penetrate the Neath defence. The girls “first touch” of the ball was continually wayward of their usual high standard. Too often the ball was treated as a hot potato by both sides and constantly the ball was passed to the opposition. Halfway through the first half Neath took the lead. The home side could have increased their lead on a couple more occasions before the end of the 1st half but Rhian acting as a 2nd sweeper kept the deficit to 1- 0 until the half time whistle. A half time team talk by Ian failed to raise Colchester’s game with the 2nd half being a repetition of the 1st and it wasn’t long before the home side increased their lead to 2–0.

Colchester performance in the second half was marginally better than the first with a few more chances to break the home defence. The best effort was a shot from Kelly Shaw whose effort was well saved by the Neath goalkeeper who palmed the shot on to the post and away for a corner. If Colchester could get a 1st goal the travelling supporters felt that Colchester would raise their game and go on to win the game but, the home goalkeeper was in confident form to deny the attacks mounted by Colchester. With minutes to goal Neath sealed their victory with the final goal of the game. A very disappointing 1st performance by the team on their Welsh tour.


MARGAM GIRLS 2 COLCHESTER LADIES 1
Kick Off Saturday 19th April 14:30

On a day when the strong wind was always going to be a factor to the game Colchester started brightly with two early corners. From one of these corners taken by Sam Hurr a strong shot by Vicky Beales was saved by the home keeper. Unfortunately after 13 minutes Colchester found themselves with a 1-0 deficit. Colchester had a shot from Christine Harding cleared off the line by a Margam defender after some strong tackling by Kelly John in the middle of the park. Colchester found themselves 2 down on 20 minutes when a break down the left found a Margam forward shooting for goal. Rhian Vincent did manage to get fingertips to it but failed in stopping it crossing the goal line. It was only a couple of minutes later that Colchester won another corner where again Sam Hurr sent over a powerful corner to find LAUREN PHILLIPS at the back post who struck a sweet shot past the home keeper for her first goal for Colchester Ladies. Half time arrived with the score still on 2-1 to the home side.

With Colchester with 5 players across the midfield they were having plenty of possession with Leanne Cox, Chloe Jameson, Nicole Chater and Kelly Shaw all working hard. The second half saw Colchester continually search for the equaliser with efforts from Emma Robson and Ashley Gooding. But the wind was playing a big factor with the final ball going astray. Soon after the restart Colchester could have conceded a third goal when a free kick was awarded when Rhian picked up a back pass. Thankfully the resulting free kick went over the bar. More and more Colchester attacked but the Margam defence always managed to get a body between goal and ball. Margam then began to hit Colchester on the counter-attack but positive defending by Sarah Barber, Charlotte Darlow and Vicky Beales and last ditch saves by Rhian prevented Margam from increasing their lead. Given the conditions and their all round improved performance from the previous day Colchester deserved at least a draw but it was not to be.


LLANELLI GIRLS (REDS) 0 COLCHESTER LADIES 1
Kick Off Sunday 20th April 15:00
The wind had dropped considerably from the previous day and the rain that had been forecast had not materialised. Despite getting lost on the way to the ground the girls were in a very determined mood to complete their tour of Wales with a positive result. This was to be an experience to be savoured, soaked up and enjoyed by Colchester.

The game was to be played in the “Stebonheath” stadium home to Llanelli mens team on a Saturday. A ground reserved for the best men’s teams in Wales. The whole occasion was extremely well planned by the home team to give all the girls an experience never to be forgotten – proper stands, barriers to keep spectators of the pitch, Music blaring over the ground during the team warm ups were in progress, local newspaper reporters taking photographs at the start and during the match. Even the experience of walking out of the tunnel side by side with the opposition led by the referee and being applauded by a large crowd within the stadium. Absolutely Brilliant.

Ian tweaked his selection and format of the team moving Kelly John into the centre of the midfield 5 and moving Vicky Beales back to her familiar role on the left hand side of a back three to give extra pace at the back. During the game he kept his strikers fresh by continually rotating them with 2 more strikers on the bench. Right from the 1st whistle Colchester had Llanelli on the back foot as attacks from down the flanks by Christine Harding and Chloe Jameson and through the middle with Kelly John, Leanne Cox and Sam Hurr. All the midfield players were up supporting the forward two of Ashley Gooding and Lauren Phillips. Any attacks that Llanelli did have were on the counter attack particularly from their 2 national players Fran in midfield and Lauren on the wing. Colchester had definitely got their act together and played some brilliant football throughout. Not only were their own personal games on a high but all players were willing to support and communicate with their colleagues.

The midfield was extremely strong with very little getting pass Leanne, Sam or Kelly and when it did there was always the defence of Rhian, Vicky, Charlotte and Sarah to tidy up. As soon as the front two started to looked tired on came Emma and Nicole to continue the pressure on the Llanelli defence. The end of the first half saw the score still at 0–0 with both sides having opportunities to open their account. The second half saw Kelly Shaw take over the responsibility of the right hand side of midfield from Chloe and she matched her colleagues in every way. Colchester’s chances kept on coming and it was only a matter of time before it came. It was a goal generated in the middle of the park and found LEANNE COX on the edge of the box, a couple of touches saw her pass a couple of defenders to give her the opportunity to fire pass the keeper after 55 minutes. The Colchester players were ecstatic and piled into a heap in celebration with the goalscorer somewhere underneath.

With only fifteen minutes remaining Llanelli upped their game in search of an equaliser but some great defending blocked the routes down the flanks. Ashley had a couple of late chances when Colchester should have increased their lead but were thwarted by the home goalkeeper. With the game moving into injury time Rhian watched a shot whistle pass her left hand post which was possibly the home side’s best opportunity. Team spirit was on a high when the referee blew the final whistle.

Squad used were Rhian Vincent, Kelly John, Vicky Beales, Sarah Barber, Charlotte Darlow, Christine Harding, Leanne Cox, Sam Hurr, Chloe Jameson, Nicole Chater, Emma Robson, Kelly Shaw, Ashley Gooding and Lauren Phillips

Whilst the squad were in Wales they attended functions like ten pin bowling and an assault course, for the latter we have some photographs.

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