Sutton Coldfield Town Royals 0-1 Port Vale

The Royals played their penultimate home game of the season against Port Vale on Sunday and produced a terrific display

Going into the game expectations were low having lost 6-0 in the return fixture just 2 weeks earlier

However the girls started brightly and had the better of the opening 10 minutes with a few half-chances falling their way

Port Vale grew into the game and began to dominate possession and create opportunities to open the scoring

However the Royals held their shape well and dug in to get to half-time on level terms

HT - 0-0

The second-half continued much the same as the first with Port Vale having more of the ball but the Royals holding firm

As the half wore on, the effects of continually chasing began to show as tiredness became more and more evident

The task was made even more difficult with 3 players having to come off with injuries at different points in the half

The inevitable Port Vale chances began to occur, but goalkeeper Neve Jones was in her usual outstanding form and kept keeping them out

On 2 occasions Chianti Marks (making her debut) produced last-ditch tackles that were timed to perfection and denied certain goals

With time almost up, a loose-ball was picked up by a Port Vale attacker who burst through and tucked the ball away to win the game

FT - 0-1

Nobody could have asked anymore of the girls who came off the pitch utterly exhausted after giving everything they had

The tremendous discipline and determination shown throughout was hugely impressive

This is further emphasised by the fact that 6 players who featured were still playing Under-16 football last season, and the average age of the team was just 21

Picking a Player-of-the-Match was simply impossible as everyone deserved it this week, so the team were awarded it collectively

Lots of positives to take forward into the final games of the season