RCS Nivellois C

FC Irlande Ladies III, for the second time this season, heads to Nivelles for a Saturday afternoon match, one of those matches that has one possible result: a win. 

FCI starts the match fully aware of the need for goals, and immediately puts Nivellois under pressure. Just five minutes in, FCI pierces Nivellois’ defence. Karissa’s long throw-in reaches Marina in the penalty box, who stops the ball and puts it in the back of the net. Following this opening goal, the first half becomes an endless series of goal-scoring changes and offside calls. A one-way match in which FCI struggles to put the result beyond doubt. While Nivellois is unable to pose a real threat to the FCI defence, the narrow margin could lead to an undeserved draw due to a small mistake.  

For the second half, FCI has to continue its good performance, increasing the level of precision in front of the goal. At 48’, a perfectly delivered corner from El is converted into a goal by Alex B.. This goal takes the pressure off the team, which now plays as it has never played before. Ten minutes later, Viktorija, assisted by Alex B., dribbles the goalie and scores into the empty goal from a tight angle. The momentum continues as Roxanne plays the through ball that puts El in front of the goal, who finishes it. A few minutes later, Roxanne assists again another goal, this time, for Marina. At 80’, Marina completes her hat-trick, thanks to the assist of Anna. The seventh and final goal arrives five minutes before the final whistle when El’s excellent corner finds Gabi, who fires it in. In the last minutes of the match, a through ball cutting the FCI defence gives the chance to Nivellois striker to go 1v1 against Ana; however, Alex recovers her thanks to her speed and preserves the clean sheet. At the final whistle, the scoreboard says 7-0 for FCI. 

This match report cannot contain all the actions and goal-scoring opportunities we created. With a bit more luck and fewer offside calls, we could have easily gone into double figures. On paper, this match against RCS Nivellois C was an easy job. However, we know how much we have struggled to obtain good results against opponents within our reach. The final score reflects both technical and mental growth. We had one job and we delivered it perfectly without getting too nervous and feeling too much pressure.