Carillon Ladies win away as Hadley nets vital late goal
RUGBY LADIES 3RD XI 1 CARILLON LADIES XI 2 SATURDAY saw Carillon women’s team travel away to play Rugby and East Warwickshire, a team that they had drawn with earlier in the season.
On the back of a series of wins, Carillon weren’t phased by the Rugby side attacking hard from the start and soaked up the pressure, although they did struggle to capitalise from the many ball turnovers. T
here were plenty of breakthroughs into the opposition D but Rugby’s excellent goalkeeper wasn’t letting anything through.
As the first half progressed, the Rugby attack ranked up the pace and the Carillon defence had to work hard. Vital tackles came from Georgia Relf and Marion Godwin at the back. However, the young Rugby players eventually beat Carillon for pace and found a way through, scoring the first goal from their only shot of the half.
Going into the second half with a one goal deficit, Carillon were not at all deterred as they moved up a gear, harrying and tackling hard to turn over possession. The midfield began to show their signature link up play with dynamic trio Laura Morley, Bex Hadley and Clare Hawksworth dominating the midfield.
It wasn’t long before Carillon won a penalty corner converted into a goal through a nicely worked move finished with poise and aplomb by Anna Godwin to draw the score equal at 1-1.
Although the momentum was clearly now with the visiting side, Carillon didn’t have it all their own way and it took some strong tackles from Ruby Gorse and Tamsin Perrett at the back, along with assertive, confident goalkeeping from Abi Draper, to keep Rugby from scoring again.
But with Carillon in the ascendancy, it looked almost inevitable they were going to score again. Becks Hadley and Laura Morley demonstrated their strength and skill with repeated circle penetrations until finally Morley was denied twice in quick succession, first by the outstanding Rugby Goalkeeper and then by the post before Hadley pounced on the rebound to put away Carillon’s second and winning goal.