3/12/25 Derby 2s 0-3 Merlins

Merlins match report:

The first half saw the Merlins immediately place pressure on the Derby back line and midfield. We were out-passing and out-running the orange and blues. Sofia’s breaks on goal were narrowly missing, but we saw the vision. Halfway through the first half, the tide started turning, the Merlins were slightly deterred by the Derby pressure. The ref took some of Holly Hynes’s tackles personally, but luckily the Derby free kicks went too wide or ended up in Anna’s safe hands. All level at the break.

Everyone knew we had it in us. We had more quality than Derby, we just needed …something, the last piece of the puzzle to tap into it. Our miracle came in the form of Holly Robertson’s speech. “You can win games just by wanting it more”. We knew we needed more movement on the ball, to recycle more, and to stay confident. And so we did.

We started the second half energised (mentally, physically we had nothing but the increasingly freezing air) and our efforts quickly beared fruit. The Merlins pressure kept forcing errors out of the Derby centerbacks, and capitalising on weak clearance, Alex turned and shot on the goal. In our typical first goal fashion (see: against Lincoln) the goal slipped through the keeper’s hands and into the net. The shrills, the energy, the “i love you alex” flying in the air: it was incomparable. We knew it had this in bag now, we just had to keep the intensity up. So we did. Derby were rattled. The keeper came a bit too far out of her, Holly Hynes noticed, and there was no mercy. The ball comfortably glided in the bottom of the Derby net. 2-0. As Derby became more dejected, our passion increased. So did the cheers of some random strangers watching the game who starting to root for us (this will also come into play later). However, sometimes our intensity left us caught out, and couple of attacks made it down the middle. There was particular shot, made from outside the box, that we were all sure was going to slip under the crossbar. BUT, the legendary Anna Chabot, as if she had grown wings, stopped it, making sure the game stayed in our favour. Embracing the Derby coach’s interesting idea that the game had rolling subs, Abi shuffled the midfiel around, and we were strengthened by the intensity of Kristina and Lillie. Despite being up, we did not rest, and a lose kick off was immediately caught by Kristina who went one-on-one with the keeper, and made the score a resounding 3-0. Beautiful game, beautiful passion from everyone, subs and starters (and supporters I guess). You can read more about the game on @derbiefootieblog on X apparently.

Players OTM: Alex McDougall & Holly Robertson