High flying, unbeaten Lumley Ladies came to the Oak Leaf on Saturday in a dress rehearsal of the League Cup Final in May. We changed the formation to counter Lumley’s attack with Molly Clark adopting the sweeper’s role which ultimately worked!
On a difficult pitch the visitors quickly settled in and soon led 0-2. The girls battled hard in defence with Hallie Sylvester, Paige Spensley, Lottie Hall all clearing their lines until half time. It was vital that we scored the next goal and did.
A clearance from goalkeeper Courtney Wilson to Martha Humble saw Chloe Ryan force her way through and slot in from a Lottie pass. Lumley now knew they were in a game but against the run of play they edged further ahead for 1-3. But yet again our girls took the game to them and simply never gave up. Charlie Nicol-Brown and Shannon Stapleton held firm in midfield, then Ebony O’Donnell found herself in the right place to tap in from 6 yards – 2-3 with 10 mins to go! Game on!
As Lumley struggled to hang on we pressed hard and defended brilliantly. We got our just reward with a 2 minutes to go when great link up play by Lily Mansfield caused confusion in the Lumley box and saw Chloe shoot through a packed defence for a deserved leveller! We might well have won as we continued to harass the visitors’.
Final score 3-3 but it felt like a win and gives the girls’ great confidence as we push on. Well done all the girls on a superb comeback!
