It was a soggy start for the Eagles in 2025. After a snowy evening there was doubt if the fixture would go ahead. A warm and wet morning melted the snow and the game was on.

The Albury Eagles and The Cobham Rebels are second and third in the league and this made it a ‘must win’ match for both teams. The conditions were wet. The Eagles fielded a complete match squad of 14 with the maximum 5 subs and The Rebels played with only 9 players.

The Rebels won the toss and kicked off towards the clubhouse. The game started tentatively, with strong defence provided by Tabitha and Ruby. There was a big battle in midfield with both team finding their shape. Slowly the Eagles moved up and provided consistent balls into the Rebels half.

Lyla was up front stretching the defence of the Rebels from the start. A one on one with the Goalkeeper looked likely until a last gasp defence from the Rebels cleared the ball away. After sustained pressure in the Rebels half, Tabitha was called to take a throw in. The ball landed in the box with 4 Rebel defenders and 3 Eagles in the box. The ball bounced favourably for Ella and gentle toe punt saw the back of the net ripple. The Eagles had scored.

After the goal the Rebels looked out of shape, and Freya on right wing took advantage of it by cutting through the defence to put the Eagles in an attacking position. Disappointingly for the Eagles there weren’t the runners in the middle to make use of the crosses.

Bonnie and Stella started the match left back and left mid-field. They started to forge a partnership up the left wing and provide balls for Lyla to chase down. As the ball bounced high for a Rebel player they punted it forward with Maeve putting her body on the line to stop the ball. A (hard hit) ball to the face saw a brave Maeve temporarily substituted to fix a bleeding nose.

The teams went in for half-time with the score 1-0 to the Eagles. The rain was still falling and David and Nick brought the team in for a strategy session. The coaches focused on marking players and clearing the ball from defence.

Molly came on for Ruby with Tabitha taking over Captaincy. Molly was able to prevent a strong attack on goal by a particularly strong and tall Rebels mid-field. The pattern of play changed in the second half with the Rebels having a strong ten minutes of attacking play. Heidi came on in the second half as a right back and faced the brunt of these charges. The Rebels had a lot of strength down the right wing and this meant that Heidi was needed numerous times to block and clear the ball.

As the game swung in the Eagles favour the Rebels found themselves in the Eagles box. The Eagles defence was slightly out of position but the core defensive wall was there. The ball went wide and seemed to be bouncing safely for the Eagles when an excellent looping shot from the Rebels 20 saw them beat Seren for a goal in the opposite corner. This was a hard moment as the score didn’t match the pattern of play at the time.

Emma and Maiya alternated in defence providing a strong foundation for the Eagles. Both players were called into action to take on strong attacking play from the Rebels. Following on from the last game Amber came on in the second half in attacking midfield. With Maeve and Freya routinely looking strong on the ball a new attacking formation was demonstrated with Amber in the centre for the Eagles. Ella came to join the attacking formation and benefitted from a bobbling ball in front of goal to make it 2-1

As the rain started again the final ten minutes looked as if the Eagles would run the clock down. With a wet ball and a slippery pitch the game was unpredictable. The Rebels started to look very dangerous in the Eagles box, and Seren was called into action to robustly clear and save the Eagles from a goal.

After sustained pressure by the Eagles in the Rebels half the ball bounced awkwardly for the Eagles and the Rebels 20 benefited. They brought the ball up and then connected with their team mate in the box. The shot was defended well but the clearance didn’t go far enough. The Rebels number 10 took the ball to the left of the goal and looked to be crossing into the box, and then she shot from a really tight angle into the corner of the net. The Rebels had scored with the last kick of the game.

After such a strong run of games there was some disappointment from the Eagles. The final score was 2-2.