Earth is a ball with Isla Ganley Young Journalist

I'm Isla Ganley from Tauranga City AFC. I'm 11 years old and I'm heading to Russia in June as young journalist to report on ‘Football for Friendship' (F4F) in Moscow in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup 2018.

The aim of the F4F programme is to promote values embodied by football with the younger generation, such as respect for other cultures and nationalities, as well as equality.

We leave for Russia on June 7 but in the meantime I'm working on my skills as a journalist with media mentors from SunLive, Tauranga City AFC and Football Music Culture to write some match reports for my home club. Here is my latest match report:

Lotto NRFL Men's Division 1

Tauranga City AFC vs Ellerslie AFC

3pm, 2 June 2018

Links Avenue, Tauranga

2 June 2018, Tauranga

It was a windy Saturday afternoon when Tauranga City AFC played Ellerslie AFC at their Links Ave ground at 3pm.

This was predicted to be a tight game, because Ellerslie were one point ahead of City on the leaderboard. The game was fill og intensity from the first whistle and played with high energy.

In the 18th minute, Ellerslie scored a goal to make it 1-0. City had a big fight on their hands.

Then in the 36th minute, City made an amazing cross and scored. As the whistle blew for half time it was 1-1.

In the second half, City had the wind in their favour and in the first 20 minutes they applied a lot of pressure and had taken four shots on goal, holding a lot of the possession.

Ellerslie's defense was strong, however, in the 38th minute City made another impressive cross on the ground and striker Jay Silcock added a nice touch to score!

From here City just had to hold their position as the crowd watched in nervous anticipation.

Ellerslie fought back but they just could not finish their shots with the ball in the back of the net.

The referee blew his whistle it was full time. Ellerslie had put up a good fight but it was not enough with City holding on to secure a 2-1 win.

TCAFC captain Ray Howe thought it was a physical game, 'they had some big boys, and we are a predominantly young team, we were the better team throughout the 90 minutes, we definitely deserved to win it”.

TCAFC Coach Nick Millichip's singled out Riley Bidois as having a good game, 'he created some good opportunities and stepped up to hold himself well against a strong right back.”

Ellerslie AFC Head coach Fred de Jong felt that City's goal in the first half from the corner was the turning point for the game.

'We were disappointed to concede the goal directly from the corner and then City, with the wind in the second half, got the goal they were looking for.”

Ellerslie AFC captain Daniel Maclean thought it was a hard fought game and said the wind definitely had an impact on the game.

Both teams will now be resting up over Sunday and then compete in the Chatham cup on Monday.

City are taking on Metro in Auckland, and Ellerslie have a home game against top of the table side Melville.