BLLK Kazygurt

WYW will be slightly disappointed they didn't get something out of this game against the top seeds in the group, but a few class players in the away side, particularly going forward, made the difference. WYW started with Tamara, Nicola, Jess, Lauren, Lolly, Linda, Kylie, Emma, Aisling and with Maria Delahunty playing behind Claire up front. WYW conceded a soft goal from Kazygurt's first attack, when Adule, one of the class players for Kazygurt, was given too much room down the right wing, and her low cross was diverted home, I thought, by a WYW defender facing the wrong way. In contrast to the excellence of Kazygurt going forward, they looked ropey at the back and, on five minutes, a long free by Maria Delahunty was punched away with difficulty by the Kazygurt keeper who looked as if she wasn't prepared to catch anything. WYW then conceded another soft goal, this time down the left, when a diagonal ball found another class Kazygurt player, Litvinenko, in space and her low cross was finished easily by Adule for 2-0. Linda Douglas then nearly got on the end of a diagonal ball, but the Kazak keeper got there just in time. Tamara Furlong then got down to save a one-on-one on the half hour and this was followed by another Kazak shot which hit the crossbar and stayed out. Amy Walsh then came on for Lolly Conlon who was injured before Litvinenko neatly chipped Tamara Furlong from twenty yards out to put Kazygurt 3-0 at half-time. The 3-4 class players for Kazygurt were dominating play and making the difference between the two sides.

WYW had more of a go in the second period and put Kazygurt under real pressure. In the first minute, Lauren Dwyer had a volley just over with the Kazak keeper again looking not too clever with the ball in the air. Then, on the hour mark, I thought Claire O'Riordan (called Nicola Sinnott) turned in a rebound from the Kazak keeper after she let slip another long free-kick. Two minutes later, Maria Delahunty executed a clever overhead volley, but it fell straight to the Kazak keeper. Just after the hour mark, Tamara did well to react sharply to keep out a Kazak header. With fifteen minutes to go, WYW had a goal harshly disallowed when a far post corner was turned in as the French referee seemed to be helping out the top seeds. A volley from Emma Hansberry was then acrobatically turned over by the Kazak keeper as the match ended on a 3-1 scoreline for Kazygurt who knew they had been given a game by the third seeds.

Best for WYW were Claire O'Riordan, Maria Delahunty, Emma Hansberry and Linda Douglas, while Adule, Litvinenko, a midfielder and a right-winger gave some quality to what looked otherwise like a pretty ordinary Kazak side. Crowd was better than I expected at nearly 600. WYW now face second seeds, Gintra of Lithuania, on Thursday who beat the Moldovan fourth seeds, Criuleni, 13-0 at the RSC earlier on today.