|
Match
report by Stacey Harris.
The Ladies travelled to
Pontypridd in good spirits with a full team (but minus substitutes) and an
aspiration for victory against a team currently at the bottom of the league of
the first division. Sadly, this much needed victory didn’t arrive as
Pontypridd (who played quite differently to a bottom-league side) stormed to a
9-goal victory.
Lido
started out the stronger team and were so for the first 15 minutes until Ponty
went ahead with a sneaky goal to bottom right corner. This was then shortly
followed by another quickie which the Lido keeper Sam Chambers narrowly
missed.
Sadly in
the first half, Lido were to suffer their first serious injury of the game
with centre back Hayley Williams, having only just returned from injury, going
down and having to leave the game. Lido were 10 players. Quick position
changes were made but we were unable to stop the shots. If it wasn’t for
Chambers’ excellent one-on-ones in the box before half time Lido would have
been looking at a greater deficit. Tina Ellis was also unlucky to have her
well-struck shot saved by the Pontypridd keeper. Steph Cook however did manage
to get a shot which nearly tore through the back of the net with a Rooney-esque
volley. Definitely a contender for goal of the season.
To add
insult to injury, a double-figured number of referee decisions didn’t go our
way and Ponty were gifted with many unnecessary free-kicks around the box. The
Lido Ladies were getting physically knocked around the pitch illegally but
failed to win any set pieces themselves. These decisions resulted in great
unrest within the team which contributed indirectly to the scoreline.
Kirsty
Pratt was yellow-carded second half for reacting verbally to abuse she
received from a Ponty forward and Pontypridd then converted the penalty. This
definitely summed up the game for Lido. Shortly after her booking, Pratt was
tackled and dislocated her toes so for the last half hour Lido were reduced to
9 men, but did well to defend so many attempts by the fast Pontypridd
forwards.
One
positive to come from the game however was the outstanding Left-back
performance of new player Roisin Sanders. Sanders’ many long balls forward
encouraged a lot of attacking play when the chips were down.
The
Ladies face Ferndale (away) next Sunday in an attempt to stay afloat in the
first division. (Now we know how West Ham feel!) Let’s hope a lot more
decisions go our way and have a full squad at the ready! Ferndale here we
come!
View
league table
|
