Denton Town 3 Curzon Ashton Pumas 1 (u12's) Friendly

Denton's final warm up game before next weekends grand finale ended with a hard earned 3-1 friendly success this morning.

Their opponents, a talented Curzon Pumas outfit from Oldham League under 12s division 2, boasted an impressive record of

18 victories in their previous 20 fixtures and showed glimpses of their ability through-out this contest keeping the Denton girls

honest until the final whistle.

Denton have trained hard over recent weeks in preparation for next Saturdays cup final against champions elect Heyside Clarets Angels

including several fitness-based sessions and they were certainly required to summon every last ounce of energy to battle against

the humid conditions in this match.

Amy was able to utilise the services of 8 of the squad with Emily the only absentee as she soaks up the sun in Florida ahead of

the big day. This meant captain marvel Kendall moved into the defence sitting infront of Teah with her usual role in the centre

of midfield going to Georgia.

The early exchanges favoured Curzon who displayed quality on the wings and the Denton girls were struggling to cope with the

flair and skill of the bright left winger. The key points we have reiterated each week to the players is the importance of them

being alert and on their toes, their movement off the ball and their communication. We have worked on this during each training

session and tried to install it into the girls heads but for the opening 10-12 minutes this morning they appeared to still be in bed.

It was only thanks to the defensive pairing of Teah and Kendall that Curzon did not take the advantage and when the duo were

finally undone Denton were luckily saved by the foot of the post.

In my opinion the turning point came when Georgia decided enough was enough and took control of the midfield. I have mentioned before

on these pages that I don't believe Georgia has yet realised her full potential. She has the attributes required to dominate a game. She is

quick, strong, skilful and has a powerful shot yet for whatever reason has failed to dictate in the manner she is certainly capable on a

consistent basis. Today she proved once again that she can offer great value to the team and was only eclipsed for my player of the match

award owing to another remarkable display from Teah.

With Georgia starting to pull the strings Denton began to cause their own problems for Curzon's defence. Kay, so often the thorn

in the side of opponents, was inevitably involved as she skipped around her marker down the left and squared the ball to Grace, who had only

just entered the field from the bench, to score from close range.

Denton's performance most definitely improved with the confidence of having taken the lead but they still had to be cautious of the swiftness of

Curzon's counter attacks. Teah and Kendall, however, coped admirably with Hannah looking solid as ever behind them and also continuing to

show her improvement in taking goal kicks.

Into the second period and it was the familiar name on the scoresheet when Lauren found Kay to expertly find the back of the net.

Some of the football being played was quite brilliant at times with Kay, Grace, Lauren, Kylie and Georgia all linking up with one-touch passing

to create more opportunities and it was soon 3-0 when Kay unselfishly laid the ball into the path of Grace to easily claim her second of the contest.

Curzon's late consolation effort was well deserved, a well taken strike, and we wish them well in their own cup final next weekend.

For now the Denton girls need to prepared themselves for Heyside on Saturday. The opportunity is there for them to win. They need to concentrate

at training on Thursday and remember all that they have been told. If they play with enthusiasm, make runs off the ball rather than standing still

and compete for the full 40 minutes then they are undoubtebly capable of lifting the cup.

RICK'S PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Teah. Your reading of the game is top notch, I can't recall you making a single error. You tackled, you passed,

you intercepted, you blocked, you ran with the ball and even headed it!! Well done. Georgia also deserves a mention too - I want to see you show

this passion next week!!

RICK WATCH: Denton men lost 3-2 at home to South Manchester. I played awful and was substituted after 70 minutes with us leading 2-1 but I did

create both of our goals and hit the crossbar.

RICK