A decent crowd turned up to watch the Ladies take on fourth
placed Dinnington Town in their penultimate game of 2015 / 2016, the reverse
fixture against the then title challengers ended in a 2-1 defeat but there was
more than enough encouragement in that fixture to suggest that Staveley could get
a result this time around.
…the match was just a minute old when Gina Benjamin, with a
cheeky back heel set up Sasha Lowe for a strike on goal which went just wide,
but a moment later Lowe got her angles correct when she latched onto a ball
clipped over the top of the defence from Carly Rowlands and smashed it across
the ‘keeper into the bottom left hand corner.
Staveley MW 1 – 0 Dinnington Town
Carly Rowlands nearly doubled the lead immediately when she
got to a through ball before the Dinnington ‘keeper, took it round her but
couldn’t get a shot away as the angle tightened.
The away side nearly got on terms after five minutes when a
moment of hesitation in the defence almost let them in and Lorna Wakem in goal
did just enough to make sure the ball hit the post seconds later, but they were
no more than half chances.
Back came Staveley and Billie Gordon crossed for Sasha Lowe to
head against the post, Karla Burton shot over the bar and Lowe again, following
a Sam Kirk throw in, put another header wide. The Dinnington goal was certainly
leading a charmed life and Staveley just could not get the second, third and
even fourth goal that their dominance had merited.
Even after just twenty five minutes the spectators of a Staveley
persuasion really could not believe that it wasn’t 6-0 and it seemed like being
one of those days when Sasha Lowe faced with a goalkeeper way out of her area
down on the byline crossed for Carly Rowlands to lay back for Gina Benjamin to
strike towards the open goal, only to see a defender come out of nowhere to
deflect over for a corner, from which Sasha Lowe got another close shot away.
More chances came and went and after half an hour Sasha Lowe
crossed for an unmarked Carly Rowlands to volley goalwards only to see the
‘keepers right hand tip the ball onto the post and over, this followed a Billie
Gordon freekick that crashed off the crossbar.
The visitors were struggling to cope with wave after wave of
attacks, they have in, Dawn Cripps one of the better attacking players in the
league capable of winning games on her own, as the Trojans found out previously
and an interesting little battle between herself and Kirsty Woolley developed.
Staveley’s central defender was never more than 5 yards away from the talented
number 10 though and as a result she struggled to make an impact.
But as the old footballing cliché of “while ever its 1-0”
goes, the one time Cripps did get away from Woolley she levelled the scores.
HT: Staveley MW Ladies 1 – 1 Dinnington Town.
The second half continued like most of the first half
straight away Karla Burton played in Billie Gordon who sent Carly Rowlands on a
run down the right hand side of the box, her shot across goal came out to Gina
Benjamin who shot over.
And the combination of Burton and Gordon proved fruitful
again for Rowlands but again her shot was saved and Gina Benjamins effort on
the rebound was deflected over the bar once more.
The magic spell surrounding the Dinnington goal was finally
broken though in the 70th minute when Carly Rowlands broke into the
box from the left and fired a right footed drive high over the ‘keeper into the
roof of the net.
Staveley MW 2 – 1 Dinnington Town
Dinnington through Dawn Cripps once more thought they’d
equalised but her effort was ruled out for offside, and the points and
performance of the season was secured when Gina Benjamin converted a Karla
Burton cross from the left for…
Staveley MW 3 – 1 Dinnington Town
And Billie Gordon turned on a sixpence on the edge of the
area which took her past three defenders and shaped a curling shot into the
roof of the net.
FT: Staveley MW 4 – 1 Dinnington Town
The last game of the season as far as Staveley are concerned
takes place at Stonelow Road in Dronfield. The home side following their narrow
0-1 win over previously 100% Sheffield Wednesday Reserves are still in the hunt
for the league title and Staveley will be keen to avenge the 0-9 defeat they
suffered earlier in the season and could still finish in fourth place.
Team:Teresa Oliver, Cheryl Smith,Kirsty Woolley,Lorna Wakem,
Karla Burton, Billie Gordon,Gina Benjamin,Sasha Lowe, Leanne Millington, Carly
Rowlands,Samantha Kirk.
Rolling Subs - all used: Carly Charlesworth,Georgia Lowe,Ele
Johnson
