To cap off a successful 2022-23 season, LUFC u12 Girls win the League Cup!
The Leighton United u12 Reds (girls) team started the 2022-23 season by integrating quite a few new players, mainly from last season's Blues team. Austin Jones and Ash Smith formed a new coaching partnership aiming to take the team forward and build on the hard work of former coaches Kevin Roche (Reds) and Naomi Knight (Blues).
The league season started well with a thumping 14-1 win away at Kempston Rovers, and the result set the tone for the rest of the season. A notable 3-2 win for the team against a high calibre Flitwick Eagles Blues side in November showed the team could potentially mix it with the big guns, and when the teams met again in January, LUFC Reds came out on top once more with a tight 5-4 win at home.
The team only lost one game all season, with the title being wrapped up with 4 wins and a draw in May 2023. The team finished the league season with 16 wins, 5 draws and 1 defeat.
The League Cup competition was a fun and exciting journey. The team was quite fortuitous at times and had to hold their nerve in 2 penalty shootouts. A penalty shootout win against Wixhams Wanderers in the first round was followed by a 5-2 win in the quarter-final against Wootton Rangers. LUFC was then drawn away against Flitwick Eagle Blues in the semi-final. The match ended 3-3 after a last-minute goal from Leighton's Emma Jones, and then, LUFC carried on the momentum to win the penalty shoot-out emphatically.
The final was held at the FA's 4G facility at Cranfield. The match was a nervy affair, and after conceding an early deflected goal, LUFC went into halftime 2-1 up due to 2 goals from Rosie Raybould. A 3rd goal in the second half from Evie Ashpole made the game safe. However, Luton scored with 10 minutes to go, which led to a nervy last few minutes. LUFC eventually held out with a rearguard action and prevented conceding any more goals to lift the cup.
All of the players in the squad made a fantastic contribution to the team's success this season. The "goal machine", Rosie Raybould, scored an incredible 56 times in 23 games (that is a remarkable average of 2.4 goals per game!). Hollie Ansell netted 13 goals, and Evie Ashpole and Shay Odukoya had 8 goals each.
2023 u12 Girls Team: Izzy Hayes-Johnstone (Captain and goalkeeper), Indie Wainer, Maisy Neal, Evie Smith, Shay Odukoya, Ellie Doherty, Lara Jones, Mia Ivory-Lewis, Evie Ashpole, Lily Edwards, Jasmine Okoh, Hannah Gibson, Hollie Ansell, Emma Jones and Rosie Raybould.
More photos from the day...
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