Match Report
Match Report - 25 Oct 2009, Bracknell Town Ladies FC Bracknell Town Ladies lost to Southampton Saints
Bracknell welcomed title chasers Southampton Saints to Larges Lane and can count themselves unfortunate not to have taken something from the game.
The opening exchanges saw both teams trying to get the measure of each other and both created chances. With the visitors palying down the slope they managed to get in behind their hosts on several occasions with their best effort being a header that cleared the bar by some margin. The Robins forced 4 or 5 good chances. The best was an excellent move that saw the Robins move the ball quickly and accurately through the middle third and a neat pass from Constable picked out Strange. Friar broke down the right hand channel and drew her defender whilst Strange then picked out an excellent pass to Corkett. The striker's first touch was good and her second was a well struck shot that brought an extremely good save from the visiting keeper although this was not seen by the officials who awarded a goal kick.
Siobhan Ridout had two good chances one of which was foiled by another fine and brave save from the Saints keeper. Her second saw her latch onto another Costable pass and run at the defence. However, on this occasion, she opted to shoot early when perhaps she could have taken the ball into the penalty area before striking. Constable herself fashioned a good opportunity when she picked up a loose ball, beat a defender and struck firmly down to the keeper's right, again the Saints keeper making a fine save. Half-time arrived with Caz Garner having turned centre half to keeper for the day in the absence of injured Emily Cross having little to do.
The anticipated onslaught from the home side failed to materialise as the visitors exercised a hold on the early proceedings. Their pressure finally bore fruit when a quickly taken throw caught out the Bracknell back line for the Saints number 9 to turn and hold off the challenge from Boyle before volleying in from 12 yards. they could so easily extended their lead further when a strike following a corner was cleared off the line by Campbell with Gardner beaten.
The Robins could easily have folded under the pressure but they remained focused on trying to play their way back into the game despite a period of 10 -15 minutes of having to play much longer balls out of defence than they usually prefer due in no small amount to the effective play of the Saints.
In the final 15 minutes of the game, the Robins created some more decent chances. The best chance was carved out by Angie Barton, making her first appearance of the season for the first team, who picked up a wayward defensive pass and cleverly beat one of the centre halves, hold off the recovering full-back only to hit her shot straight at the keeper. A moment of quality from the centre half who has been missed so far this season. The Saints survived another scare when a corner resulted in a scramble around the 6 yard box before being finally cleared to safety.
All in all, a good game for the neutral and one in which the Robins can consider themselves unfortunate not to take at least a point. The failure to capitalise on chances created cost them today but here is plenty to take heart from as the Robins look forward to next week's league game at home to Oxford United.
Bracknell Town Ladies FC Bracknell Town Ladies 0 - 1 Southampton Saints