Five star Town Ladies end 2018 on a high note
MARKET HARBOROUGH
LADIES 1ST XI 0 LOUGHBOROUGH TOWN
LADIES 1ST XI 5 AFTER A dramatic final-minute winner last Saturday, Loughborough Town Ladies 1s made the journey to Market Harborough for their final league game of 2018 in the search of another three points.
With the opposition bottom of the league table with just one point to show for their efforts, on paper the fixture looked a straightforward task for Town.
Market Harborough did well to protect the ball for the opening minutes, but Town soon found their rhythm and enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession in the first half. Midfielders Ashleigh Godfrey, Emily Burgwin, Annie Piper and Lucy Walden worked tirelessly to supply balls to the energetic forwards who were running rings around the defence. Harborough’s keeper was in top form and largely kept her team in the fixture, saving shot after shot to preserve the score-line at 0-0.
Town’s breakthrough came mid-way through the first half; struggling with their usual short corner routines on such a slow pitch, a botched effort paid dividends as Emily Burgwin’s powerful strike at the top of the circle was deflected over the keeper’s head by Emily Hill for her first of the morning.
With the score 1-0 in Town’s favour, their assault on the Harborough circle showed no sign of stopping. However, minutes later Town survived a scare of their own as Harborough’s forward made her way into Harriet Galpin’s circle at speed. Emma Weir, playing out of position in defence, was perfectly positioned and scrambled the ball away off the goal line to preserve Town’s lead.
As half time approached, Emily Burgwin was denied by a smart save low to the Harborough keeper’s left and Alex Hardy also saw her strike turned away from goal.
Determined to press on and extend their slender lead, Town came out aggressively after the half time break. Straight from the pushback, Emily Hill’s blazing 40 yard run down field drew a desperate challenge from a defender and gave Town a free hit.
Seeing an opportunity, Annie Piper took the free hit quickly as Harborough scrambled to set up, finding Hill in the circle with a pinpoint pass. Hill made no mistake as she smashed the ball past the keeper to double Town’s lead and her own personal tally just 40 seconds into the second half.
As Town’s confidence soared, Harborough struggled to contain the onslaught. Minutes later, Piper again took on the role as provider as Town bagged their third of the match; Georgina Godfrey deflecting Piper’s powerful cross effortlessly through the keeper’s legs. Unfortunately for Market Harborough, Town’s incredible scoring spree was not yet complete.
Picking up the ball at the half way line, Emma Calvert drove down field and found Alex Hardy, who then picked out Grace Thompson on the far post. Thompson made no mistake as she fired the ball into the goal from close range, taking the score to 4-0 just five minutes into the second half.
At risk of letting their frustration get the better of them, Market Harborough did well to group together and resist the ongoing onslaught of their circle. Their attempts to get near the Town circle were futile; new call up to the squad Gabrielle Morgan impressed in the centre back role and alongside Shana Featonby any advances by the home side were quickly stunted.
Katherine Laws produced another solid performance at half-back with the thankless task of marking Harborough’s best player out of the game, ensuring Harriet Galpin remained nothing more than a spectator in the Town goal. For Harborough, the final whistle could not come soon enough, their frustrations and tiredness becoming ever more evident as two players saw green cards for poor tackles. The home team’s misery was complete as Town grabbed their fifth goal of the morning; a pass from Emily Hill setting up Georgina Godfrey for her second of the morning and confirming her player of the match performance.
The 5-0 win sealed the three points for Town, who will go into the winter break third in the league by goal difference and on equal points with first and second place. The ladies’ hopes for a second promotion in as many years are well and truly alive.
Loughborough Town Ladies: Back row (left to right) Emily Burgwin, Lucy Walden, Emily Hill, Hannah McCleery, Katherine Laws, Georgina Godfrey, Ashleigh Godfrey, Grace Thompson, Emma Weir. Front row (left to right): Harriet Galpin, Annie Piper, Emma Calvert, Claire Howard, Shana Featonby, Izzie Limb. Picture by Andy Smith. LUTTERWORTH LADIES 1ST XI 1 LOUGHBOROUGH TOWN
LADIES 3RD XI 2 AFTER A HARD fought draw last week Town Ladies 3rd XI made the journey down the M1 to third place Lutterworth Ladies 1st XI.
On paper the match looked like it should be a good one. Lutterworth one place ahead of Town in the table, also held the best scoring record with Town holding the second best in fourth place.
As expected Lutterworth started extremely strongly with two of their players dominating the midfield and keeping Town’s defence extremely busy as wave after wave of pressure was soaked up by Town.
As the game progressed Town started to settle down and play some of their best passing hockey to date. They started to look dangerous on quick breaks and pressured the Lutterworth keeper at every opportunity, who was able to keep the score at 0-0 by staying strong and saving everything.
The breakthrough came though as Town’s Eleanor Grainge powered down the right wing and found Grace Jones in the circle, who drew the keeper to her, and then beautifully squared the ball to a wide open Sam Dalby who slotted the ball home before the keeper could scramble over to save it.
The goal seemed to give Town an extra boost of energy and a belief that they could win the game, as they continued to absorb the pressure that Lutterworth heaped on them. Man of the match, Zara Bailey seemed to be everywhere and an impenetrable wall that Lutterworth could not seem to penetrate.
Lutterworth caught again on a break saw Town fight hard to win a short corner, one of the five they won in the game. After the initial routine failed to work, Grace Jones found herself battling with the keeper in front of the goal. After two saves Grace was falling to the ground, as she managed to get that crucial touch to that saw the ball head between the keepers legs and in to the back of the net to make it 2-0 to Town.
The two goal lead was not held for long ,as just before half time Lutterworth pushed hard, and after making some fantastic saves Selena Cox was finally beaten to make the score line 2-1.
The second half started much as the first half had finished, with both teams battling hard to win. With opportunities presenting themselves nobody seemed to make the breakthrough.
Dalby found the back of the net again, only for it to be ruled a no goal, after it hit her shin pads before being powered home. Lutterworth at one point were about to celebrate what they thought was going to be a goal only for Selena Cox to have made a save on the left of her goal and then at full stretch make an outstanding save back across on the right. Town were breathing a sigh of relief, whilst the subs were cheering.
The full whistle saw Town hang on to the 2-1 lead, and leapfrog Lutterworth into third place in the table.
With the first half of the season now complete, nobody would have thought that this new team, with new players would be sitting third in the table with the second best scoring record. With a long break until the season starts again in the new year, only time will tell if Town can continue their fantastic start.