Ladies 1s 2 - 4 Basingstoke

The score didn’t reflect the balance of the game and Maidenhead had a majority of the possession. The pressure was mostly in Basingstoke’s defensive end, with the away side struggling to get it out of their defensive line for most of the first half. One of their few attacks did result in a short corner that they duly converted against the run of play. However this didn’t dampen Maidenhead’s thirst for a goal and they continued to hold the upper hand. Unfortunately a couple of further attacks led to Basingstoke taking a 0-3 lead.

However, Maidenhead didn’t lose heart and continued to drive forwards and Carol Easter, Chantal Hankin and Lyndsey Harwood continued to push from the midfield to ensure the pressure was maintained. This led to Ali Lubbock being gifted the ball at the top of the D to beat the defence and fire it across goal to Eddie Westacott. Eddie couldn’t quite fire home in front of a stranded keeper and the ball fell to Teona Goodge who converted. Leaving 1-3 at half time.

The second half continued with Maidenhead plugging away at the Basingstoke defence that increasingly looked worried as gaps continued to appear. Eventually the perseverance paid off and a short corner slipped by Easter to Lubbock resulted in a reverse shot that Harwood had a first attempt at and then Westacott converted, to bring the scoreline to 2-3.

There was some solid defensive work from Bex Miall, Charley Young and Sophie Alice-Phipps who snuffed out any potential threats outside of set plays for most of the game. However Basingstoke were lucky on a couple of breaks towards the end and did have a period where they had consecutive short corners. Unfortunately one of them was converted to leave the final score at 2-4.

MOM: Sophie Alice-Phipps