The Staveley Miners Welfare Ladies took the very short trip
up Inkersall / Staveley Road to Arkwright for their first game of the 2015 /
2016 Sheffield and Hallamshire Women’s County Senior League Division 1 hence
forth known as SHWCSL1, to face a Chesterfield FC Ladies side which proved to
be a lot better than their last preseason game, a 1-4 defeat to Sheffield
Rangers had suggested…
The home side began the game in the ascendancy and the pace
of Leoni Everley and Lucy Harris with Kyla Crawford orchestrating from midfield
was causing the Staveley defence a lot of problems but the combination of poor
finishing and desire to “get back in” from defenders Carly Charlesworth, Elle
Johnson, Georgia Lowe and Teresa Oliver as well as brilliant sweeper keeping
from Lorna Wakem in goal kept the scores level and, it was to be Staveley who
took the lead when, Billie Gordon took control in a crowded Chesterfield area
to smash the ball into the roof of the net from six yards out, after 25
minutes.
Back came Chesterfield though, and they duly got the reward
their play had merited when Jade Boulton scored with a 20 yard thunderbolt from
the right hand edge of the area after being allowed too much space and time.
It got worse for Staveley just before half time when they
were on the wrong end of an offside decision which allowed Ellen Rowley to
steal in at the far post following a half cleared corner to put Chesterfield
Ladies into a 2-1 lead at halftime.
A positive team talk at halftime rightly suggested that
Staveley “were still in this” and so it was to prove although not quite as
comfortably as they would have liked…
Lauren Hardy continued where she had left off in preseason
and grabbed the equaliser just after the break, stabbing home a Leanne
Millington cross from two yards. 2-2
Then Billie Gordon
scored her second with a spectacular volley on the turn from all of 35-ish
yards which looped over the keeper. (It was sensational and words just cannot
do it justice).2-3
Chesterfield were not done yet though and as the game was edging
towards its end, tired legs meant gaps were appearing all over the pitch and
they made good use of that space making it all square again with just two
minutes left when Abigail Creed reacted quickest to a shot which bounced down
off of Coran Wrights crossbar who had by now replaced Lorna Wakem in goal.
The neutrals in the crowd would perhaps have said that a
draw was the fair result but with just seconds remaining Sam Kirk who hadn’t
stopped running all day still had enough left in the tank to break clear and
unselfishly squared the ball to an unmarked Gina Benjamin who made sure the
three points would be coming back to Inkersall Road by slotting it into the
centre of the Chesterfield net.
Full Time: Chesterfield FC Ladies 3 – 4 Staveley Miners Welfare
Ladies
Starting Lineup:Gina
Benjamin,Karla Burton,Carly Charlesworth,Billie Gordon,Lauren Hardy,Elle
Johnson,Samantha Kirk,Georgia Lowe,Leanne Millington,Teresa Oliver
Subs:Coran
Wright, Laura Poole – note that the league employs rolling subs so both played
a part in the game.
The only
other game played in division one was up in Oughtibridge where Staveleys next
opponents Sheffield Rangers triumphed 4-1 over Beighton Magpies, and that game
will be played on 27th September at home (venue to be confirmed)
Current League Table SHWCFL1 at 22/09/2015
| P | W | D | L | F | A | PTS | GD | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheffield Rangers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | Staveley Miners Welfare | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | Dinnington Town | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Dronfield Town | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Sheffield Wednesday Reserves | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Chesterfield FC Ladies | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | -1 |
| 7 | Beighton Magpies | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | -3 |
Staveley Miners Welfare Ladies are sponsored by:
Info@JPGrafix.co.uk
