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Photos: Jack Western
The weather on 22 Acres may have been inclement, but the York City Derby was far from dull. York St John went a goal up almost immediately, but an Anty Cole equaliser midway through the half put paid to the visitors’ intention of getting a grip on the game. Just after the restart a sweet strike from Cole put the home side in front, and Sophie Jermy would add a third on seventy-five minutes before Annie Chambers compounded YSJ’s misery two minutes from time.
The first half was a keenly contested and even affair, but it was the visitors from York St John who took an early lead when a speculative ball over the top found a winger racing through on goal. Her shot across goal looked to be relatively harmless, but lax tracking allowed their right winger to attack the ball and slide it into the net. Following the goal, neither midfield was able to settle as momentum changed hands time and again, and Anty Cole drew UYWAFC level when some head tennis in the box following a corner enabled her to nod the ball over the opposition ‘keeper and into the net from point blank range. Jess Craig should have given UYWAFC the lead on thirty-seven minutes when her rising drive crashed into the bar, but she got no purchase on the rebound, which dribbled into the grateful ‘keeper’s gloves.
Half-time did not detract from the momentum the Black and Gold gained following their equaliser, and the ever-deadly Anty Cole was on hand after the restart to angle a curling strike into the top corner and give her side the lead. UYWAFC began to break forward in numbers, with the midfield parking itself high in the YSJ half, pinning the visitors into their area. This impressive pressure was bound to tell, and when Sophie Jermy gained possession on the right edge of the area, she made no mistake with a beautifully placed shot over the keeper and into the far corner of the net.
UYWAFC were seeing the game out with increasing ease as YSJ ran out of ideas, but Anna Middlemiss still had to connect with a superb saving header from under her own crossbar and get a toe to the resultant strike to divert it wide of the post and protect their advantage. Marte Retzius would blot her copybook with a glaring miss from a Cole cutback before Annie Chambers put the icing on the cake with a daisy cutter from just outside the area which beat the YSJ keeper with consummate ease.
VISION MOTM: Maria Davies
UYWAFC captain Ellie Whittaker: “I’m extremely happy with the win, especially against York St John. Our style of play is definitely improving, and special mention to Maria [Davies]; she was a brick wall at the back for us today. Everyone gave one-hundred and ten percent today, and though it’s anyone’s game, I think we’ll stay up.”
UYWAFC (4-1-3-1-1): Brown, Davies, Roy, Middlemiss, Baldwin, Retzius, Jermy, Chambers, Whittaker, Craig, Cole
Subs: Wilhelmsen, Turner, Larkin, Nilsson