Criuleni

According to the UEFA website, the tally was 28 attempts on goal to one, but yet WYW could only manage a 0-0 draw against Moldovan opposition, Criuleni, in Ferrycarrig today in front of a great crowd of about 500. I thought it was surprising that Gary Hunt only made two changes, bringing in Rachel Hutchinson and new keeper, Sophie Lenihan, from the previous match. Criuleni hardly committed a player over the half-way line for the whole match, but were game and had a good keeper who dealt competently with most of WYW's efforts. All the chances fell to Wexford with Maria Delahunty having a shot saved on two minutes, Linda Douglas heading into the side netting on seven minutes, and Claire O'Riordan beating the Criuleni keeper to a bouncing ball but unable to convert on 17 minutes. On 24 minutes, Claire had the ball in the net but was ruled out for offside and, five later, Claire had a really good chance but the Criuleni keeper got down well to save. Right on the buzzer, Kylie Murphy had a chance with a header but planted it straight into the keeper's hands and Linda had an effort tipped over. 0-0 at half-time but you couldn't see Criuleni holding out for the second half.

The game continued in the same vein during the second period, with Criuleni going even deeper into their own half if that was possible. Claire had a header just over early on and, on 55 minutes, Emma Hansberry had a shot from 35 yards out tipped over. With 65 minutes gone, Orla Casey came on in place of Amy Walsh. Maria Delahunty then had a far post header just wide and had another effort later on. Aoibhin Webb then came on as a second sub. With two minutes to go, Kylie Murphy knocked the ball back at the far post and Claire O'Riordan couldn't miss but she nodded it straight to the Criuleni keeper ferociously trying to get back into position to leave the score at 0-0 at full-time.

With the league re-starting next week, Gary Hunt needs to pick up some lessons from this game, particularly, the failure at times to retain the ball and show some patience, the forward/midfield players generally tending to run away from the ball towards goal making them impossible to pick out and the inability to make the ball do the work. Aisling Frawley and Linda Douglas tried hard to provide some width but two good full-backs in Nicola Sinnott and Amy Walsh never once got past their wingers to provide the additional width. Thought Rachel Hutchinson did well in midfield to make herself available for passes on many occasions. Kazygurt beat Gintra 3-0 in the other game with Kazygurt qualifying from the group as a result.