Mowbray Rangers Tigers fightback falls short; Asfordby Girls win at Harborough

Rangers went into the match unbeaten, but started sluggishly and were two goals down inside 10 minutes as when the pace of the Kirby forwards ripped through midfield to leave home goalkeeper Bailey with no chance.

Mowbray changed formation and looked to be more solid as they began to get a foothold in the game, but just before the break Kirby scored against the run of play to go 3-0 up.

The second half saw a totally different Mowbray who put Kirby under constant pressure.

They soon pulled a goal back with a 25-yard wonder strike by the inspirational Starley who battled throughout in midfield.

Mowbray had Kirby on the back foot, but without troubling the keeper and fell for a sucker-punch counter-attack to fall 4-1 behind.

Now pressing, Lomas collected the ball out wide and held off three players before curling a shot into the bottom corner for 4-2.

It was all-out attack from Rangers in the final five minutes, but they could not find a way past the Kirby keeper.

Two last-minute goal-line clearances by Starley and Ward prevented the scoreline from being worse, but it also showed that despite defeat, Mowbray kept battling to the end.

A lesson learned is to be more focused and aware from kick-off instead of playing catch-up.

* Asfordby Amateurs Girls travelled to Harborough for their first game of the new year in the Under 12s Greens Division.

Amateurs couldn’t quite get into their normal stride and went into half-time 0-0 after a first half of few chances from either side.

But Asfordby started the second half very brightly with Panayi moving into midfield, and Miller up front making it difficult for the home defenders.

The visitors got their breakthrough early on after some great individual work from Panayi to set up Miller who opened the scoring.

Asfordby kept pressing and another great piece of work down the right saw Panayi’s cross into the area find Miller to slot home her second.

Harborough didn’t give up and kept going forward, but York, Drummy and Wheatley were fantastic in breaking up their attacks.

Gamble in goal was also solid in keeping a clean sheet in a fantastic team performance despite the lack of preparation for the game.

Amateurs: Gamble, York, Panayi, Wheatley, Lyon, Whitehouse, Ball, Drummy, Miller.