Ladies finish on a high

The Ladies brought the curtain down on their season yesterday with a home game against Wirksworth.

A number of the girls from our Wildcats Centre walked the players out on to the pitch, and Lizzie Pacey was presented with a memento for making her 50th senior appearance.

It was good to see Maja and Summer return after layoffs, having missed 3 weeks (3 games) and 5 weeks (6 games) respectively.

We made a slow start to the game, and were struggling to get going as Wirksworth had the better of the opening stages, picking up loose balls and winning challenges. They had already had a couple of early sights of goal so it was no surprise when they opened the scoring, just before the quarter hour, after Jade couldn’t hold on to a shot and the loose ball was stabbed home from close range.

It was an undoubted setback for us in a game both teams will have felt the need to win, as neither had reached mathematical safety from relegation. We gradually grew into the game, however, and started to impose ourselves more; Maja Znamirowska grabbing an equaliser just before the half hour. We finished the half strongly as, boosted by the goal, we put Wirksworth under pressure in the quarter hour before half time.

We started the second half in a similar vein, and were enjoying the better possession; it was now us picking up clearances and second balls, and winning challenges and keeping Wirksworth penned in their half for much of the time. Gilt edged chances were at a premium, but there were a few brief sights of goal, but the Wirksworth ‘keeper was proving equal to whatever came her way, including showing considerable bravery on a couple of occasions to smother the ball at the feet of Summer and Maja.

Some of our approach play was eye catching, although at times we were guilty of over playing on the edge of the Wirksworth box - although that was mainly due to a solid defensive barier that was proving difficult to breach. It felt that we needed to capitalise on our period of good possession and pressure, as there was always the risk of being caught on the break and finally, just after the hour, a slick passing combination put Michelle in on the goal side of the nearest defender, and from wide on the right she struck the ball low and hard across the goal, evading the keeper and defenders, and Beth Thompson slid in to apply the finishing touch from a few yards out.

After a five match layoff and no training in that time, we were conscious of the need to manage Summer Evans return and had brought her off before half time. She came back on with a little under twenty minutes left, and within four minutes had scored our third, sweeping Maja’s low cross wide of the ‘keeper from just outside the six yard box.

With around ten minutes left, we tried to tighten up and see the game out, but Wirksworth started to push players forward and pulled one back with a shot from outside the area that left Jade with no chance. It set up a nervous last three minutes, plus three minutes of time added on, as Wirksworth pushed everybody except the goalkeeper forward in search of an equaliser. Jade tipped a goal bound shot around the post, but we had a couple of chances on the break which we weren’t able to capitalise on, but were able to see the game out to claim three points and finish the season on a positive note.

The win lifted us to fourth in the table, to finish top of the group chasing the top three, in what was almost a league within a league. With other teams still having up to three games to play, it’s nice to have finished our fixtures and not having to worry about the results of the remaining games.

In the day’s other games, Castle Donington lost to 0-4 to Draycott Victoria, whilst Chesterfield won the Regional Cup Final, beating Derby County Foundation 6-1.