After a few weeks away from league action the Halifax Friendly FC Belles returned with a bang with a comfortable win against league strugglers Rothwell Juniors Women White, the lack of league action didn't seem to faze the Belles and their fine form in their first game continued with a big of a goal-fest on their behalf. Sunday saw their highest scoring league game this season with them putting 5 past Rothwell with a nice mix of goalscorers getting in on the action. 

The game was a chance for the coaches to experiment a little with their formation opting for a 3-1-3-1 formation, something new but something that the team adapted to with ease and those players in a change of role adapted really well and settled in nicely to their new responsibilities and in some cases had their best game of the season so far, I know I definitely felt like I had my best game in my new role and feel like I could settle into it nicely as I actually preferred it to being on the wing and it showed some strengths in my game that I never knew I had. The new formation gave the defence the help they needed and often lacked in previous games but everyone put a shift in, held their shape and all that hard work in training is really paying off and we are seeing just what we are capable of after a few technical session that have taught us how to move the ball around better and how to hold our shape to make it harder for the opposition to breakthrough on goal. Granted Rothwell had a few chances but nothing too threatening and nowhere near as many as they would have had in previous weeks.

We saw just what we could do in the new formation by the fact we were moving the ball round much better rather than previously as when we were on the ball we knew where the options were for us to pass to and we were using the space on the pitch really well, something we are trying to get used to and have worked on in training a few times, but it all just seemed to come together in Sunday's game as there were less of just hitting the ball and panicking and more sitting with the ball and calmly considering our next move which really helped us break down their midfield and defence and at times really frustrated them. 

Granted we did start the game a little slower than we would all have liked but again we were settling in to the new positions and getting a feel for the smaller pitch again after playing on bigger ones our past few games. Once we did settle down though it all just fell into place and every time we had the ball we looked a threat and took a chance on goal. We are definitely seeing our confidence in front of goal grow too which again was highlighted in Sunday's game, shots were taken from a variety of distances and were taken properly rather than hit and hope like they used to be, this ended with 5 brilliantly struck goals and it could very easily have been a higher scoreline if it wasn't for a few post hits and very close calls which unfortunately fell the wrong side of the goal.

It is safe to say that Sunday's game was one of the best I have seen from us this season so far with everything starting to come together that we have been working on over the past few weeks in training and you can't fault any players performance on the day with everyone having a solid game and showing the improvement they have made since the start of the season, to say this is our first season together with some of the results we have been getting it is going to be interesting to see what the remainder of this season and next season is going to hold for us... as all these things start to fall into place we are just getting stronger and stronger so we could see games getting better and better week in week out.

With the end of the season fast approaching it really is all to play for, the Belles are currently sat in 4th in the league just 4 points off 3rd place with 3 games in hand on them. With how games have gone recently though a strong run of results and we could very easily finish in 3rd place, if not higher which would be a huge achievement for our first season. I guess only time will tell for that though and all I can say is I am excited to see what the remainder of the season holds. 

Now is it game day again yet?