Newbury secure the derby bragging rights
Development side hit five against local rivals in well-contested battle
NEWBURY Ladies Development recorded a 5-2 win over rivals Thatcham and Newbury Ladies in the Thames Valley Women’s Division 3 South league.
Newbury made a sloppy start and conceded in the first minute of the game when Alice Dearlove found the back of the net.
However, Newbury made a great response when Sophie Papworth made an attacking run up the line to find Gabriely and her low cross found Sam Richards, who fired home to make it 1-1 within two minutes.
From this point on Newbury dominated with possession and Thatcham struggled to keep the ball out of their half.
In the 20th minute, Newbury won a corner and Natasha Carroll coolly found Amy McNab, who headed home to make the score 2-1 at half-time.
The second half started well for Newbury when McNab picked up a loose ball and took a shot, which rebounded off a defender, and was volleyed home by Gabriely from 20 yards out.
Two minutes later, McNab once again stole the ball in midfield and ran 35 yards through four players and slot
ted the ball home for 4-1.
Tavares Da Silva then made it five when a wonderfully-timed through ball from Natasha Carroll was taken around the goalkeeper and slotted home.
The final action of the game saw Dearlove score her second for Thatcham on the counter attack.
Kingsclere lost 3-2 in a close match against Banbury United in Division 2 of the Thames Valley Women’s League.
Kingsclere made a quick start to the match and could have taken the lead when Abigail Elliott got free down the right before cutting the ball back to Hannah Sibley on the edge of the box, who saw her
left footed effort brilliantly tipped around the post by the goalkeeper.
From the resulting corner Sibley swung a ball in to the near post where Charlotte Tanner volleyed the ball goalwards, only for the keeper to block the ball behind for another corner.
Kingsclere were awarded a penalty when Elliott was taken out after beating her defender on the by-line.
She stepped up to take the penalty herself driving her effort towards the left-hand corner of the goal, only for the goalkeeper to pull off a wonderful one-handed save at full stretch.
Just before half-time, a good move saw Byoni Middleton played in down the middle before cutting back and seeing her driven effort well blocked by the advancing goalkeeper.
Kingsclere made a disastrous start to the second half when a corner from the right was missed at the near post before falling to the Banbury player who poked an effort goalwards.
The ball appeared to be going wide before it hit the unfortunate Courtney Hance and wrong-footed Hamilton to roll into the net.
Things got worse minutes later when another corner was only half cleared and, after a goalmouth scramble, the ball was eventually tapped home by the Banbury player.
Kingsclere pulled a goal back when Lucy Why played a ball in behind the Banbury full-back for Elliott to run on to and finish well past the advancing goalkeeper.
But Banbury restored their two-goal lead soon after when their winger got free down the right before putting in a brilliant cross into the box that was tapped home by the striker.
Kingsclere pegged them back again when Tanner beat her defender down the left before finding Elliott, who slotted her first-time effort into the near corner of the net.
In Division 1, Mortimer Ladies suffered a 5-0 defeat to Penn & Tylers Green.