Newly promoted Staveley made a flying start to their campaign in Division One,as they raced into a 2-0 lead inside the first seven minutes of the game, against a shell shocked Wednesday side who were completely knocked out of their stride, as the visitors set about them like a strike force from an unexpected invasion of shock troops.
Ellie Bates almost opened the scoring in the first minute, when Carly Rowlands picked her out with a defence splitting pass, that put her through one against one with the Owls keeper, with a burst of pace that left the left back standing … but the Wednesday keeper managed to block Bates shot.
Bates pace left a very square back four for dead again, but having done the hard part and getting her shot away, the lively right sided player put the ball narrowly wide of the upright and into the side netting, with the keeper beaten all ends up.
The tactic of playing at a high tempo and keeping the ball on the deck, and hitting passes through the channels for Staveley’s fleet footed attackers and supporting midfield players to run on to, paid off on 6 minutes when Sasha Lowe broke free of the attentions of the home sides defence and slotted home the opening goal.
Within fifty seconds, Staveley struck again …
Wednesday conceded possession straight from the restart and Billie Gordon’s clinical pass into the path of Rowlands, saw the prolific goal scorer clean through and she made no mistake from 12 yards out.
The visitors didn’t sit back on their lead and invite Wednesday to ‘come and have a go’, far from it … the game plan was definitely a case of adopting a policy of ‘attack is the best form of defence’.
Billie Gordon was having a field day in midfield, unlocking the home sides defence with a succession of measured passes. It looked like it would only be a matter of time until Staveley started to rack up a few more goals as they were completely dominating possession.
Kirsty Woolly was marshalling her defence well, breaking down any Wednesday attacks before they had chance to create any clear cut opportunities and Danielle Taylor on the right and Karla Burton and Teresa Oliver on the left, were working hard down their respective flanks, to stifle the Owls attempts to make any in roads down the wings.
Meanwhile at the other end Lowe and Rowlands both went close to adding more goals to their tally, as Staveley continued to make life difficult for Wednesday’s overworked keeper and overstretched defence.
The Sheffield side did however have one option in their arsenal that will test most sides this season … the pace of Lucy Ridley. Her first sprint from the middle of the park to Staveley’s goalmouth was dealt with by Woolly and Taylor, but Ridley was obviously going to pose a threat and pretty soon Wednesday were trying to play every forward move through her.
Karla Burton played Sasha Lowe through on goal and she was upended in the box, but the referee waved away Staveley’s penalty appeal.
Wednesday’s defence had resorted to putting two markers on Carly Rowlands in an attempt to keep her quiet ... it didn’t work of course and she managed to squeeze in another three more attempts on goal before the allotted 45 first half minutes had elapsed, including one that the Owls keeper did well to turn over the bar.
It could and should all have been over by now, but in the eighth minute of added time, Wednesday equalised just before the break.
The visitors defence had put a ‘they shall not pass’ roadblock across the 18 yard line and the Owls had to resort to what looked like a scuffed long range shot that was going harmlessly wide, but Amy Webster managed to get an outstretched leg to it and diverted the ball just inside the right hand upright.
Ouch! The home side were level at the break, when, if truth be told, they really didn’t deserve to be.
Half time -T 2-2
Staveley were back in front two minutes into the second half, when Sasha Lowe broke through the right channel and chipped the ball over the advancing Wednesday keeper.
Lauren Hardy and Jade Tollerfield were putting in a great shift in midfield battling for every ball , it was a great all round team performance. Lindsay Vaughan hit a sweet long range strike but Wednesday’s keeper had her angles covered.
Karla Burton hooked a great ball into the path of Sam Kirk who couldn’t quite get her shot away on the 3G surface and was then flattened from behind by a bodycheck on the referees blind side (for the record he had several blind sides).
Jade Tollerfield’s long throw ins were causing Wednesday’s defence problems, Rowlands was still seeing off the close attentions of her markers and Staveley won a succession of corners as they pushed on to consolidate their advantage.
Finally another goal came on 79 minutes, when Rowlands unselfishly knocked the ball to Lowe who buried a low shot into the net to claim her hat trick.
Second half goalkeeper Coran Wright got down well to smother the ball as it looked to being going in following a goalmouth scramble.
Lauren Hardy chased the ball down, when it looked like a lost cause and her sheer determination saw her through on goal, but she shot just wide of the post.
On 85 minutes, Lucy Ridley broke forward again and a burst of pace put her in on goal and Wednesday were given a glimmer of hope at 3-4 as she placed her shot just inside the post.
But there was to be no repeat of Wednesday’s late first half comeback.
Staveley closed ranks at the back and almost scored again right at the death, when Tollerfield picked out Rowlands with a long throw that the Welfare’s striker played across the face of goal, but nobody could get the final touch on it.
FT: Sheffield Wednesday Ladies 3 v SMWFC Ladies 4
A great away win and three points on the opening day of the season.
But with a touch more luck the margin of victory could’ve been a whole lot bigger.
It was a very warm afternoon and on an unfamiliar playing surface and our Ladies deserve a lot of credit for taking the game to their illustrious hosts and keeping the tempo up all afternoon.
MOTM? (WOTM even?) Too many stand out performances to single one out to be honest.
Line up: Lorna Wakem, Kirsty Woolly, Jade Tollerfield, Teresa Oliver, Ellie Bates, Billie Gordon, Lindsay Vaughan, Karla Burton, Carly Rowlands, Sasha Lowe.
Rolling subs (all used) : Lauren Hardy, Sam Kirk, Coran Wright (GK)
Acting ‘caretaker’ manager: Cheryl Smith
