Female Glovers Burst Hammers Bubbles!
Yeovil Town Ladies: 1 West Ham United Ladies: 0
YEOVIL Town Ladies enjoyed a fantastic victory at the weekend taking three important points in their home game against West Ham United Ladies. Stacey Pearson scored the all-important Glovers goal just before half time, and as a result her side now sits in fifth place in the table on nine points.
The Ladies were pleased to have The Park School girl’s football team as their mascots for the day, and they were treated to a pre-match coaching session and free entry to the match. They certainly sang their way throughout the game, which was a real boost for the players and atmosphere in the ground.
The game started at a fast pace, and really was an end to end affair for the first fifteen minutes. The Glovers were forced to make a change on fifteen minutes after Kirsty Whitton clashed knees in a brave tackle. This gave Grace Rapp an opportunity to come on as centre forward, after spending a week on an England U19 International Camp at St Georges Park. Grace made a good impact and Yeovil began to settle down and dominate possession.
West Ham were quick on the break and there were a few last ditch tackles made by the strong back four of Nadine Grogan, Rachael Edwards, Charlotte Hannam and Emma Brazell to keep Yeovil out of trouble. Goalkeeper Rachel Simkin also had to come out and collect a few through balls that the Hammers tried to fire at Yeovil’s goal.
As confidence grew the home side started to combine and build play through the midfield, with Laura Wensley and Jade Radburn winning the ball and feeding it wide to Kayleigh Sage and Pearson. This build up play rewarded them on 44 minutes when Laura Bray crossed in a ball to the back post which Pearson headed into the net. Yeovil played out the half dominating the game and having shots go wide from Bray and Radburn. Joint Manager Sarah Lawler said, “Stacey took her goal well after going close to scoring earlier in the game, and the delivery from Laura Bray was quality.”
The second half started and Yeovil knew there would have to put their bodies on the line as West Ham pushed three up front and played a more direct game. This half saw a great effort to defend as a team. Yeovil came close to scoring again, but were denied by a fantastic save from the Hammers ‘keeper, who was the outstanding player for their team. It became end to end with two clearances off the line from Nadine Grogan, and every player was working hard to press their opposition and put in the tacklers to break down their attacks.
Simkin was cautioned in the last ten minutes of the game after an off the ball tangle with a forward on a one v one, but she then went on to make a great top corner save and clearance to redeem herself from the pressure West Ham were putting the team under which involved a free kick and then corner that the Hammers ‘keeper came up for to connect with a bicycle kick that dipped over the bar. Individually the back line played exceptionally in the last ten minutes with every single defender making outstanding clearances and blocks, along with the midfield chasing down everything in front of them.
With West Ham pushing on the attack it left them exposed, and Yeovil had another chance to finish the game from a rocketing header from Radburn that was saved with a full stretch dive from the hammers’ ‘keeper. At the final whistle the Glovers and the home crowd were delighted. Assistant Manager Chris White said. “The girls deserved the win today, and we probably could have scored more than we did, but the important thing is we earned the points.”
On reflection Sarah Lawler added. “Today showed how far we have come, and how much we believe in our club motto ‘Achieve by Unity’. We stuck to our game plan and every single player in the squad had the right attitude to give their all.
“There were several players I could say were exceptional today as much as the team all performed, but I have to make mention to Nadine Grogan who has just returned from several weeks out from injury and played her socks off . We are very confident going into this weekend’s fixture at QPR in the League Cup and want to continue our unbeaten run in this competition.
"We have a BINGO night to raise money for Yeovil Town Ladies FC and MacMillan on Friday 9th November at Huish Park. We want as many people to support this as possible. It starts at 7.30pm with some great prizes up for grabs. The cost is eight pounds which will get you entry and covers the cost for all the games we will play on the night. All money raised will go towards the cost of running the Girls and Ladies teams as well as a proportion being donated to Macmillan.”
Yeovil Town Ladies:Simkin, Grogan, Edwards, Hannam, Brazell, Wensley, Radburn, Sage, Whitton (Rapp – 20), Bray, Pearson
Goalscorer:Stacey Pearson (44)
Referee:Peter Mawhood (Somerset)
Next Match:Away to Queens Park Rangers Ladies – 04 November 2012 (League Cup)
Report by Sarah Lawler
