Ciccardini inspires Heath in cup final
A Tess Ciccardini hat-trick proved the difference as she fired Haywards Heath Town to victory over their Worthing Town counterparts in the final of the inaugural Sussex Girls Challenge Cup (Under-18s) at Culver Road.
It did not take long for the Mid Sussex side to go close, as Grace Simmons thumped the post from distance after neat build up just two minutes in.
Worthing responded in kind through their player of the match Olivia Waller, who burst clear at the other end only to be denied by a good low save from Megan Taylor on the stretch.
Julia Adolfsdottir let fly from distance, but Worthing failed to heed that warning and saw Heath go in front just shy of the half-hour mark.
Adolfsdottir was again involved as she worked herself into a good position to tee up Ciccardini to finish well from ten yards.
In a superbly seesawing contest, player of the match Olivia Waller was at the heart ofthingsshortlybeforetheinterval. Having been released by substitute Tia Stone, she looked poised to score only for Megan Taylor to come to her side’s rescue again with another smart stop.
Worthing’s persistence eventually paid off five minutes after the restart when Stone and Waller linked up for the latter to pick out the onrushing Anna Keskini.
Taylor looked to have done enough to claw the header out, but the referee, aided by his assistant Keith Cullen, correctly judged the ball to have crossed the line and parity was restored.
Butnosoonerhadthedust settled than Haywards Heath had restored their lead. Pippa Fisher’s effort on the angle was deflected behind.
Fromtheresultantcorner, Ciccardini’sinswingerevaded everyoneandfounditswayin.
Eight minutes further on and the game was put further out of Worthing’s reach, again thanks to Ciccardini.
Heath boss Dave Cole said his side’s victory epitomized everything they have worked towards.
“It was a great game between two top quality sides,” said Cole.
“We weren’t quite at it in thefirst-half,sowehadwords at half-time. I wanted us to be more aggressive, more proactiveandtogetonthefrontfoot more.
“The girls took on board what I said, and we took the game away from them with a good ten-minute spell to put ourselves in control, then we just had to manage the game mentally.”
On Taylor and Ciccardini, Cole said: “We are lucky to have both of them, Megs was very disappointed to let that one in as she thought she’d got there but she made some excellent saves, and she was a platform for us to go on and win.
“As for Tess, she’s been putting in performances like this for years, she’s such a threat with her pace and finishing, she really stands out at this level. We’ve managed to keep this team together and reaped the rewards for it, it’s everything we’ve tried to achieve."
Haywards Heath Town: Taylor, Sinclair, WeisskopfStrange, Lambert (c), Adolfsdottir, Simmons, Greenway, Thompson-Ford, Ciccardini, Fisher, Dobson. Subs: Mean, EWood,DWood,Bravenboer.