I felt someone shake my shoulder, causing me to rub my eyes and slowly let them adjust to the natural lights beaming through the large windows of the bus.
"Lily, wake up. Everyone's already gone inside, did you sleep well?" said a voice next to me, but I immediately knew who it was.
"Yes thanks, you're really comfy," I said causing Niamh and me both to chuckle.
"Good I'm glad," agh her smile! "we should probably head inside and start getting ready for the game" I nodded my head in agreement and we went on our way.
We made our way to the away changing rooms to meet up with the rest of the team. As we walked in I was met with the eyes of everyone, but they almost immediately returned to what they were doing except for Lucy who was chatting with Isla and Harper. She gave me a look to say something is going on that you're not telling me, but before a conversation could be made Jaqueline spoke.
"Girls! Now everyone is here we are going to go outside and quickly warm up before getting ready and having a team talk before kick-off. So everyone let's head out to the pitch and get ready to win this one!" She shouted the latter part, and with that being said, Niamh and I quickly changed into our training kit and put on our boots before heading out to the pitch with everyone else.
Our warm-up consisted of our usual things plus a few simple drills to get us prepared. It took us about 30 minutes to complete these, so luckily we could get them done before any of the crowds could come into the grounds. It was relatively cold but luckily there wasn't a breeze about to make matters worse nor a chance of rain. After we were warm we got ready for the match. For me, this consisted of putting my hair into a tight high ponytail and getting changed into my match kit. The overall mood in the changing room was really good, everyone was pumped for the upcoming match and I was so excited to be starting. Obviously, I was also extremely nervous because I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worthy of this spot in the starting 11 and also to make my mum and mill proud.
Niamh was given the captaincy role for this match so she got everyone's attention so she could give a team talk before Jaqueline gave her final words before kick-off. "Girls I wanna say a few things before coach sends us off," she said as everyone huddled around to hear what our captain had to say.
"So, as most of you know this could be a good win for us if we work together and don't get in our heads. We need to believe in each other and do our best and I'm certain we can bag this one on our road to defending our title. Our starting 11 is deserved and we have a new addition to it this game, so please can we congratulate... Lily!"
Niamh brought me into a bear hug to congratulate me along with Lucy hanging on from behind and then Isla and Harper joining where they could. All the other girls clapped and cheered to show their support apart from the 2 girls who let's just say wouldn't be cheering me on from the stands. Once everyone had settled down Jaqueline spoke,
"Thank you Niamh for those lovely words, and for stealing what I was going to say," we all let out a chuckle "but I have a few points I would like to say before you girls go to head out. Firstly, Niamh and Maya stay up front as much as possible to get us goals but in order for you girls to do that we need Harper and Cleo as well as Jodie and Jessie to help feed the ball through up to them, and then I want Lily and Luce to stay fairly upfront with your defense but if needed you can run back to help Aria and Penelope with their defense and finally Sophia keep on your toes because, to be honest, I don't know how this game might play out" she said giving everyone a minute to digest what she had just said, "but anyway girls lets get out there and do our best to win this, Villans on three! One, Two, Three, VILLANS!"
Everyone cheered and left the changing rooms to walk out and line up. I quickly looked at my home to see a message from my mum,
mum 💞
hey baby girl! we are here |
and have just sat down me |
and mill will be here cheering |
you on and be proud no |
matter what so go out there |
and show them what is in our |
blood xxx |
| thank you mum, I'll do
| my best to make you
| and mill proud xxx
.... and so did Mill,
mill 💕
hey lilsy! go and smash it ok? |
remember what I said to you |
that morning xx |
| mill, thank you xx
Whilst quickly typing my reply to Mill, Luce rushed in and told me to hurry up as we were about to walk out so I pressed send and ran out with her to line up. We walked out of the tunnel and suddenly it all hit me. I was starting for an academy game. 4 months ago I would have only dreamed of my life being this and now it's my reality. As I found my spot on the pitch I looked up to try and find whereabouts Mill and Mum were sat, but as I found them I also found Anna, Hamps, and to the other side of Mill, I saw Ella and Alessia as well. I was so shocked that they had come to support me but decided to block them out so I could play my best.
The whistle blew and the game started with the first kick being taken in our possession. Our midfield worked well to feed the ball up to Niamh as she crossed it into Maya who timed it perfectly to score us our first goal at only 8' we all celebrated to ourselves but kept it small as we knew that if we were to win we would have to keep in game mode throughout the whole of the 90 minutes. After our first goal, the pressure was put on by Durham causing me to make a tackle up by our goal to save Sophia from making an important dive. Luckily we got the ball back down and Jodie, Harper, Jess, and Maya were all trying to get the ball into the box where Niamh was being closely marked, but somehow Jess managed to nutmeg one of the Durham girls so that Niamh could neatly tuck it into the bottom left corner. Due to everyone being down to help out, we all ran to congratulate her and I jumped into her arms (luckily she caught me), we stayed for a few seconds before everyone had gone back to their places and it was just us. It was coming up to halftime and Penelope was 1v1 with one of the girls, they did a sneaky yet very impressive trick to get around her and then did long shot into the top basket to make the score 2-1. Almost immediately after that goal, the whistle blew signaling half time so we went into the locker room for our team talk.
"Girls that was a good first half and congratulations on the goals Maya and Niamh, but that doesn't mean we can settle. If we stay strong in our defense and keep possession of the ball, I think we can easily get a higher score than we have currently. Maya at around 75' I'm going to sub on Isla to take your position but other than that I like how we are playing at the moment. Anyone have anything to say?"
Everyone shook their heads so we went back out to the pitch to carry on and win this game. As Jaqueline said, we kept hold of possession not letting the opposition take the ball past the middle of the pitch allowing me and Luce to come and join more of the midfield play. Throughout the next 30 minutes of play, we scored 3 more goals. One goal came from an extraordinary corner from Cleo, one came from Harper who was just there at the right time allowing her to shoot into the back of the net and finally, one from Luce which she took from just inside the penalty area. It was time for Isla to be subbed and as Maya walked off the pitch everyone applauded her efforts in the match, as without her most of the goals today wouldn't have probably taken place. Isla definitely lived up to her reputation by tucking in a cheeky little bottom corner within 3 minutes of being on the pitch making the score 6-1. The final 10 minutes were spent defending a little more as Durham managed to get possession of the ball a few times, in this instance, we had 2 minutes left and they got possession so Lucy made a tackle to get the ball back and played a pass to me. I did a long shot hoping that someone would be in the box to take it as a header but instead, the ball looped down, tucking into the top left corner making it unable for the Durham keeper to block. I stood there in a state of shock at what I had just done. The girls came and ran around me to congratulate me and I only came back to reality when Niamh came and picked me up. I had just scored on my debut! We celebrated and everyone congratulated me as Niamh was bouncing me up and down in her arms. This only lasted a few seconds before I told them to stop as we had 1 minute until we could properly celebrate a win. We kept the ball in the middle of the pitch until the referee blew the whistle signaling that we won. I stood still in my track with my head in my hands as I broke down in tears. I felt a pair of arms bring me into a hug and immediately I knew who it was...
"Lily I'm so proud of you and you better be telling me those are happy tears" she said causing me to let out a chuckle.
"Niamh I'm very happy. very." I said as I lifted my head up where she was met with my glossy eyes. We walked over to the other girls to celebrate, but I was met with Lucy's worried face.
"Lil you alright? Are you crying? You were amazing you shouldn't be crying" she said making me smile at her worry.
"I'm good and they are happy tears" I said with my smile growing bigger. Luce held out her pinky finger and so did I. That was her way of making sure I was telling her the truth.
We all came in for a team talk where Jaqueline congratulated everyone involved but how we still have a long road to defend our title. She then allowed us to go and say hi to our family or anyone who came to watch us. Everyone ran off into the stands and I sprinted up the stairs into my mum's arms with all of the other girls who came to watch cheering my name.
"Kiddo I'm so proud of you" she whispered into my ear whilst letting out a few tears.
"I love you Mum" I whispered back.
"I love you so much more baby girl" she said placing a kiss on my forehead before letting go of me to allow me to say hi to the others.
"Hi everyone! I wasn't expecting you to all be here" I said as I went to go hug all of them to show my gratitude for them coming to support me. I sat down with them for a bit as I had time before I had to go and catch our coach back to the academy, so I took a seat sandwiched between Mum and Hamps. We talked about the team and the match as well as my goal. Niamh was sitting down with her family who were on the front row, she turned around to look at me and smiled, obviously, I reciprocated the gesture but I have a feeling I went a little red at the same time as Hamps whispered something in my ear,
"So what's going on between you two? You kissed yet?" now I was definitely bright red...
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Hi guys! I'm back.... well for now. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I apologize for not updating for a while. Everything has been a bit chaotic with my life recently and more excitedly I now have a girlfriend. I really hope I can update more often but with exams coming up combined with my wanting to give you guys a good read it can be hard. Anyways I hope you love this chapter as much as me and please as always message me with any ideas or if you just need a pair of ears! Love you guys xxx