No fortune at all for K's
Report by Mark Robson
We welcomed two debutantes for today’s home match versus South London Women – Stephanie Bushby and Christelle Meier – and we were also delighted to have Mairead Halliday back after nearly two months’ absence.
We started well and were edging the game for the first twenty minutes. It looked as though we had taken the lead after 15 minutes but a wonderful finish from Sophia Demetriou was ruled out for offside. However, our passing seemed to start to go astray after that and, as we repeatedly gifted possession to South London, they started to pile the pressure on in the remainder of this half. We had a narrow escape when a free-kick from South London crashed back off the bar and was lofted back in to bounce to safety off our crossbar again. We were glad to reach the half-time whistle at 0-0.
We played much more brightly in the second half and were creating more chances than in the first, as the game veered from end to end. It really looked as though one goal would settle it, and, after 75 minutes, the breakthrough came, but unfortunately not for us. The umpteenth wayward pass conceded possession in midfield and a South London break ended with the ball nestling in the back of our net. 0-1.
We are a never-say-die team however and, just when the game looked all up, a high ball dropped to Christelle Meier a fair way outside the South London penalty area. She didn’t hesitate and hit a high lofted shot towards the goal. The keeper was off her line and the ball dropped from a great height into the back of the goal. 1-1 with just 3 minutes to play.
However, this game had a last dramatic twist. In the final minute, the ball was played deep into our half close to the bye-line. A South London striker got her body in-between the ball and our defender and, under pressure, she toppled over. The referee pointed to the spot, but the linesman who was in much closer proximity to the incident kept his flag up and insisted that the foul had taken place outside the area. The referee wasn’t in a mood to listen; however, and insisted that it was a penalty. The penalty was hit straight at Lily Dusting and she made a great save to parry the ball away; however, the South London players were more alert than ours and following up, outnumbered us inside the six-yard box, eventually succeeding in bundling the rebound over the line to win the match. FT 1-2.
This wasn’t one of our better performances with passing and ball control today below the standard required at this level, but, despite that, it was a fairly even match overall and the manner of our defeat was a little hard to swallow.
Team: Lily Dusting, Alanah Sherwood, Stephanie Bushby, Lucy Potter (c) , Chelsea-Ann Woods, Mairead Halliday, Lace Edgcombe, Olivia Watson, Sarah Sinkins, Ellie Bland, Sophia Demetriou
Sub: Christelle Meier
Goal scorer: Christelle Meier
Player of the match: Lily Dusting
