LTHC Ladies’ 1st XI 6 vs Towcester Ladies’ 2nd XI 0
MRHAWL – Midlands Feeder East
Loughborough Town Ladies 1st XI faced Towcester 2nd XI in their first home game of the season. Having narrowly lost out 1-0 to Belper 2nd XI the previous weekend despite a strong performance, Town were fast off the pace against recently promoted Towcester. Town enjoyed the majority of the possession in the early minutes, pinning Towcester into their own half, but some impressive goalkeeping from the opposition keeper maintained the deadlock despite numerous chances.
Ten minutes into the first half, Town seized their opportunity to pull ahead when a defensive foot on the line in a goalmouth scramble saw the home side awarded a penalty flick. Emily Burgwin stepped up to the spot and calmly slotted the ball low to the keeper’s left to give Town the 1-0 lead.
Town’s press continued to give the opposition difficulty and some excellent running from half back Alice Thompson and a smart move from forward Holly Clark won Town a penalty corner. The ball was dragged to Izzie Limb at the top of the circle who slipped right to Burgwin. In form Burgwin’s powerful slap found the back of the goal, giving Town the 2-0 and Burgwin her second of the afternoon.
Towcester still found themselves pinned into their own half by Town’s strong press. The few opportunities the opposition had to make ground towards Beth Johnson’s goal were thwarted by excellent defensive performances from full backs Limb and Gabs Morgan. Instead, Town kept up the pressure with strong leads from Ruby Barham and Emma Calvert, eventually winning another penalty corner as Towcester struggled to protect their circle. This time, Shana Featonby dragged to Ashleigh Godfrey on the left of the circle before deflecting Godfrey’s powerful strike underneath Towcester’s keeper. Now 3-0 up, Town could have still had more before half time if it wasn’t for some impressive goal keeping – most notably a link up between Clark and Featonby being smartly saved in the dying seconds of the half.
Unfortunately for Towcester, the second half continued much the same as the first, with Town seeming unstoppable on the attack. Godfrey, Emma Weir and Zoe Wright worked tirelessly in midfield to disrupt Towcester’s attempts to get out of their own half.
Town’s fourth goal of the afternoon was a stunning solo effort from forward Lucy Walden, who mercilessly pounced on a defensive mistake by Towcester off a 16 and smashed the ball high into the roof of the net. Walden cemented her joint player of the match performance minutes later, again winning the ball from defence and striking the ball to the keeper’s right for Claudia Johnson to turn effortlessly into the net.
Fellow player of the match Calvert continued to cause Towcester problems down the right wing. Calvert linked seamlessly with Weir, whose strong baseline drive was finished off by Featonby into the bottom left hand corner for her second of the afternoon. Now 6-0 up, Town showed no signs of relenting but as Towcester turned to damage limitation, their further attempts on goal were thwarted.
In the closing minutes Weir looked to have scored but the ball blazed agonisingly wide into the side netting. Similarly Godfrey turned the ball into the net but the ball was judged to have hit her foot in the lead up to the goal. Featonby went close to scoring a third in the final seconds of the game but the ball skidded just wide of the post. Towcester were glad to see the final whistle at the end of a wet 70 minutes of hockey and Town emerged as 6-0 victors. A fantastic team performance from Town which they hope to carry into next week’s clash against Nottingham Trent.. POTG: Lucy Walden & Emma Calvert
LTHC Ladies’ 2nd XI 4 at Ashby Ladies’ 1st XI 2
LRHA Ladies – Premier Division
Loughborough Town Ladies’ 2nd XI played a strong game against Ashby Ladies’ 2nd XI winning 4-2. With Georgie Macey, Row Davies, Elle Brown and Izzy Briggs today’s scorers.
The first half was played well with three goals being scored firstly by Row, then Gee scoring a lovely short corner followed by Izzy and Ashby scoring one. Making the score 3-1 at half time.
Ashby played hard in the second half scoring another goal, but Elle scored the final goal for Town making it 4-2. Ashby being the promoted team from the league below definitely played a strong game and offered a good challenge for Town, who remain undefeated. POTM: Row Davies
LTHC Ladies’ 3rd XI 2 vs Melton Ladies’ 5th XI 2
LRHA Ladies – Premier Division
Loughborough Town Ladies’ 3rd XI went into the 2nd game of the season against Melton First X1 having lost against their clubs 2nd XI the previous week. Captain Sam Dalby was expecting to have a nice sub bench but due to unforeseen circumstances the team was left with 12. Thankfully Melton only had 1 extra sub, but would that prove to be the difference on the pitch?
Town started well and worked together passing the ball, but found it hard to break through Melton’s defence who in turn had good patches of possession. Town who welcomed back Ellen Johns to the lineup were able to keep Melton’s breaks at bay. After a defensive clearance midfielder Amanda Conradie picked up the ball and drove the sideline where she connected with Jo Hatley. Hatley played a fantastic ball, splitting Melton’s defence to an unmarked Dalby in the D, who connected with the ball to send it in to the bottom left corner. 1-0 to Town.
Melton hit back creating chances but goalie Kate Horrigan and Abi Archer held them at bay. The Melton pressure finally took its toll on Town and their attack succeeded in scoring making it 1-1. Town fought back before half time though, when Harriet Galpin succeeded in winning a penalty corner. After the initial shot was saved Galpin pounced on the loose ball and sent it flying into the corner. This put Town 2-1 up going into half time.
The second half was full of chances for both teams but a succession of injuries for Town resulted in a rearrangement of players, which enabled Melton to step up their attack. Town continued to push them back but as the dying minutes approached defender Vicky Ashenden had her stick hooked by a Melton attacker, flinging it into the circle. Melton took advantage of this dribbling into the D where the umpire awarded a penalty corner just as the final whistle blew. A well drilled routine from Melton saw them slip the ball from the top to the left and the ball found the goal. A final result of 2-2 is a move in the right direction for Town as they face Market Harborough away next week. POTG: Harriet Galpin
