Successful weekend for Ladies’ sides

IT proved to be another successful week for County Ladies’ senior teams, despite the first-team not being in action, with wins for both the Reserves and Development team.

There was no scheduled game for the First Team, but manager Steve O’Hara still kept them busy with a light training session, followed by gym work to prepare for next weekend’s FAWNL home match against Norton and Stockton.

The Reserves made the long trip East to play Hull City Reserves for the first time this season.

Regular Captain Ellie Richardson is out with a long-term injury and so ‘veteran’ Jess Hill took over the armband.

Jess is another senior player who has been at the Club since Primary school age.

She started as a goalkeeper, and has played at almost every position in her time at County, eventually settling at centre-back. She is also a successful coach with our U14s Team.

A closely contested first half was drawing to a close when County won a corner. As usual, the centre-backs came up for the set piece, and when the loose ball wasn’t cleared by Hull, Jess smashed it into the roof of the net. Ironically for a player renowned for her aerial ability, her first goal at Senior level came with her feet.

Captain for the day Hill opened the scoring with her first senior goal. As the cliché goes, it was a ‘good time to score’ and County went in 0-1 up at the break.

The second half continued in the same vein, until Ella Ritchie, stepping down from the First Team to get additional match time, doubled the lead with a stunning curling shot.

County protected their lead well until Hull got a late consolation goal, to make the final few minutes a bit tense – much like the final few moments at Edgeley Park on Saturday.

A welcome three points on the road which continues a good run of form for Manager Dan Dewar, helping to keep the Reserves in the middle of the table.

A superb curling shot from Ella Ritchie doubled County’s lead

Back home at Stockport Sports Village, the Development Team had a league game against Sandbach United Women in the Cheshire Women’s and Youth Premier Division.

A dominant 8-2 win, with goals from Lester, Banks, Driscoll (2), Duncan (2) and West (2), was the result. Despite the scoreline, Manager Rhys Dandeker-Bourne still feels there is more to come from a team with their potential.