Match Report
Match Report - 26 Sep 2010, Bracknell Town Ladies FC Bracknell Town Ladies drew with Woodley Saints LFC
The league leaders, Woodley Saints, were the visitors for this league encounter with the Robins looking to recover from their away defeat at Portsmouth University last Sunday. Woodley Saints are newly promoted and have got off to an excellent start and it was clear from the outset that they were looking to plunder all 3 points.
Both teams opened with some early attacking exchanges only to find that the respective defences stood stubbornly to deny any clear goal scoring opportunities. The hosts looked to have settled the quicker of the two sides and created some potentially good openings only to play one pass too many and squander the chances. Woodley were far less wasteful when they fashioned a chance which was finished with a clever lob following an error from the hosts.
The Robins continued to play some good possession football but again without really testing Williamson in the Woodley goal. Several shots were fired in but with no real pace. Emma Constable came closest to bringing the Robins back into the game with an attempted volley from the edge of the penalty area that had Williamson back pedalling only for the ball to drift narrowly wide.
Woodley had a good spell of pressure just before half time. A cross from the hard working Hickman was partially cleared by the Robins but they stood off rather than squeezing out and applying pressure on the ball. The advancing Holden controlled with one touch and struck the ball crisply from all of 30 yards through the despairing grasp of Robertson for a 2 goal cushion at half time.
It was hard to see where a goal from the Robins was going to come from despite their neat build up play. They seemed to lack the cutting edge and positive attitude necessary to take advantage of their spells of pressure. However, the second half began brightly for the hosts as they again put together some good passing movements and aggressive denial of space when not in possession, forcing the visitors onto the back foot. Despite this, the cutting edge in front of goal was seemingly still lacking.
Woodley looked threatening on the break and didn't need to chase the game as they soaked up the pressure. One of their breaks resulted in a collision between one of the Woodley strikers and young Robertson who had to go off suffering a painful stomach after having been winded by the challenge. Katy Miles took over in goal and Chakira Graham replaced her on the right side of midfield. On 69 minutes, the Robins introduced Jade Ellis-Johnson for her debut alongside Caz Paterson, relacing Emma Turner and Jo Atkins. With the change of team shape, the Robins set about their task with more purpose. The tireless Becky Powell was fouled after having won possession just inside the Woodley half. Libby Shuttle's delivery was met by the head of Emma Constable who guided the ball into the net, game on!
With only 10 minutes remaining, skipper Tasha Boyle ran the ball from her half into opposition territory. As Woodley began to close down her space, Boyle played a dangerous ball into the Woodley area. The ball was poorly defended and allowed Ellis-Johnson to force the ball home from close range to level the game.
Woodley then came out to try to regain the initiative but were unable to a create a clear scoring opportunity with Katy Miles being largely untested in teh Robins goal. The Robins likewise tried to press for the winner but in the end had to settle for a share of the points when none looked to be available at the interval.
A good passing display and a tremendous desire to not lose saw all of the Robins squad put in a strong performance which augurs well for the visit of Shanklin next Sunday in what promises to be another hard fought game.
Bracknell Town Ladies FC Bracknell Town Ladies 2 - 2 Woodley Saints LFC