| Both sides started
brightly with AFCB full backs Beki Rider
and Kelly Merry both making creative
movement down the flanks. Some good
attacking work on display by AFCB saw the
assistants flag kept almost constantly
raised. Just as it appeared to be one of
those days, Merry played the ball directly
to Justine Loughton who flicked to Lindsey
Roe waiting in the wings. Roe with some
sublime individual skill and determination
to beat the full back and smash the ball
into the net from the left secured the
important first
goal for the cherries, her first for
the season.
Yeovil tirelessly pushed forward but
with little end result, as AFCB back line
remained tightly marshalled by Sam Howarth.
However, Yeovil`s Elle Wolfe gave the
cherries defence plenty to deal with, with
her pace and intelligent movement across
the line.
Yeovil were denied a strong penalty
shout when Simkin rushed from her line and
appeared to bring down Wolfe inside the
18, but referee waved away for an AFCB
ball claiming Simkin had in fact made
contact with the ball. At the other end
AFCB were denied yet another goal as
Langrish ran onto a perfectly waited pass
only for the referees assistant to
strangely flag for offside. Yeovil kept
possession well for the remaining minutes
and had a chance to level before the break
with an accurate Kia Bowles corner being
drilled directly at Simkin who
instinctively pushed to safety.
HT 0-1
With both sides feeling that decisions
were against them, it was AFCB who seemed
to put the first half behind them, and got
on with the business of good positive
football. Some attractive one touch
passing saw Loughton through to set up the
second; a low driven cross into the path
of Kirsty Bell, who made no mistake
rattling the back of the net.
Both teams coped well with the extreme
heat, Gillian Neill came on for Goater on
75mins to inject some pace into an
exhausting game, but it was the consistent
Howarth who broke up the play only to pick
out Langrish on her own on the right.
Langrish still had half the pitch to run
with full back close on her tail; done
very well to keep her head and net at the
end.
With the clock ticking Yeovil pushed
the strong Kim Turner into midfield who
moments later unleashed a ferocious shot
from 25 yards which beat Simkin only to
hit the under side and bounce back out, a
goal line camera needed here.
FT 0-3
Squad: R. Simkin, B. Rider, S. Howarth,
C. Heydon, K. Merry, J. Morgan, A. Goater,
L. Roe, L. Langrish, J. Loughton, K. Bell.
Subs: G. Neill, G. Hoban.
Nikki Rowswell commented after the
match...
"… returning to my old club was hard
today especially after the apparent season
ending injury I sustained last week, I was
desperate to play in this one; but the
girls worked so hard and put a big smile
back on my face. Performance and
professionalism were key here today and
Shaun definitely had everyone pulling in
the right direction, great stuff to
watch…." |
