Wild kept out by the Top Cats

Widnes Wild Women 0 Swindon Top Cats 3 THE Widnes Wild women’s team were blanked 3-0 by the Swindon Top Cats in the Women’s Premier League at Silver Blades Widnes on Sunday.

The forward-looking team handed WPL debuts to 16-year-old netminder Rebekah Scott, who has previously only played Scottish league U16 games, and to Widnesbased recreational player Pauline Hayward who was playing her first competitive league game.

The Top Cats had been relegated from last season’s Women’s Elite League and are favourites to win the WPL title this time around but the Wild women gave them a good run for their money and were actually on top for long periods of the game.

The visitors took the lead in the sixth minute and the score remained 1-0 at the end of the first period.

The Wild Women put the Top Cats under a lot of pressure in the second period – out-shooting them by 15-8 – but were unable to convert any of that attacking play into goals.

The Cats, in contrast, scored with two of their eight shots either side of the halfway mark and were 3-0 up by the 32nd minute.

The Wild women battered the Swindon goal again in the third period but were unable to get past netminder Rachel Moore – who picked up her third shutout from the four games that the Top Cats have played so far this season.

Swindon moved to the top of the WPL table with this win, having won all four of their games to date and conceded just one goal in total, while the Wild women occupy sixth position with two defeats from their two games.

The Wild women are next in action on Sunday, December 3 when they take on last season’s playoff champions Milton Keynes Falcons at Silver Blades Widnes – 5.30pm face-off.