Mellor’s second game of the day presented a much more daunting challenge than that faced in the earlier win against Cheadle. The girls had earlier seen Oxton secure a one sided victory over Cheadle and, as they lined up for the face off, it was evident Oxton carried a general, significant age and height advantage over the Mellor girls across the team.

After a scrappy opening in which Mellor briefly held their own, Oxton forced the first of what became many excellent saves from Aimee, but she was unable to stop a quick follow up effort on goal which gave Oxton the lead. The girls were fighting hard though, and Annabel was unlucky not to score with an effort well saved by the talented Oxton keeper.

Oxton fired in two more goals in as many minutes, and then added a fourth through a break from their own half after Amy had seen an effort strike a post. Harley then had a shot saved and another shot from Emily K rebounded off the post. This hard luck seemed to deflate the girls for a spell as Oxton quickly added a flurry of goals to make it 0-8 at half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with the size and power of the older Oxton girls proving to much for our tiring team. But Mellor never gave up; Aimee continued to make saves, Emily N and Mary defended valiantly, Emily K, Harley and Sophie battled valiantly in midfield and our younger 10, 11 and 12 year old girls chased and fought to intercept and pick up the loose ball. But Mellor did create some opportunities with Amy forcing saves on more than one occasion before the tireless Aoifa finally broke through to score a fine individual effort. Oxton went on to score further goals before Amy had the 2 final goal attempts of the game, both well saved by the Oxton keeper.

Though a heavy defeat for the girls, they can take pride in their commitment and application against what was a talented, well drilled, experienced team; perhaps a glimpse of what this Mellor team can achieve in the future as they continue to play and mature together.