York Women’s 1sts were looking for their first win of the season when they welcomed Northumbria 2nds to 22 Acres, but after more than matching their opponents for the majority of the match, they were undone by a late sucker punch.
The first quarter of the match was largely uneventful as both teams sussed each other out. Northumbria were finding some joy over the top of the York defence but lacking the killer finish, while the home side worked some openings with no end product to speak of.
York captain Rachael Carpenter was mopping everything up at the back, playing the sweeper role effectively, but a rare slip saw the first real chance of the match. She lost possession on the edge of the box and the Northumbria striker rattled the bar with a rasping half-volley.
However, it did not take long for Northumbria to take the lead, and it was another mistake brought the first goal. Goalkeeper Megan Phillips got her angles all wrong from a seemingly innocuous long range shot, letting the ball squirm through her grasp at head height before nestling nicely in the corner of the net. Phillips made amends a few minutes later when she smartly blocked a Northumbria forward who found herself one on one with her.
Yet York showed great determination and got themselves back into the match just after the half hour mark. This time, it was the turn of the Northumbria keeper to make a bad error, getting into a mix up with her defender after a through ball was played over the top before Amy Johnson made no mistake, sliding the ball into an empty net from the edge of the box.
The score stayed level until the break, although the balance of play shifted as York went on the front foot, especially through the driving efforts of winger Bea Rye, who twice danced through numerous challenges to create goal-scoring opportunities, first for herself which she fired straight at the keeper, and then crossing for Rose Hooks, whose shot was weak.
York began the second half as they ended the first, and they so nearly took the lead, more wayward goalkeeping from the Northumbria shot-stopper who flapped at a routine cross from Johnson, but the ball was cleared off the line by a desperate defender.
Midway through the second half, York was hit with a blow when Hooks, responsible for a lot of creativity in the final third, went down in agony after a kick in the knee. That seemed to knock the wind out of York sails, and Carpenter superbly denied Northumbria’s striker when one on one with a last ditch slide tackle.
It was end to end stuff, Johnson missing her kick when inside the box with a clear sight of goal, before at the other end, Meg Phillips made a smart save only for the rebounding ball to cause a goalmouth scramble, Northumbria denied a goal by a combination of Phillips’s follow up save and a carpenter tackle.
However, as the game drew to a close, Northumbria got their winner, another ball over the top being met by an opposition player whose cross shot was met on the slide by their onrushing runner, who could not miss from only a couple of yards out. Northumbria were denied further goals in the final minute by Phillips who made two further saves, yet the final score ended 2-1, another defeat for the women’s team.
Carpenter was upbeat though, saying “we were robbed today. It was a cracking team performance, with great team spirit against a very physical team who just got the better of us. But the effort and the skill were there.”
Vision MOTM: Rachael Carpenter
Team: Meg Phillips, Vic Peck, Rachael Carpenter (c), Becca Smith, Vicky DuCamp, Bea Rye, Marte Wang, Sam Barker, Claire Chappill, Rose Hooks (Karie Mees), Amy Johnson. ……unused subs: Charlie Barrington, Naomi Rintoul.