Poole Town Ladies v Weymouth Women 1st

Recap

Poole Town 3

King 28′ 86′ Kemp 90+3′

Weymouth 0

South West Women’s League (03/12/23)

A depleted Weymouth side put in a heroic battling performance away at league leaders Poole Town, but it wasn’t enough to prevent defeat. The scoreline didn’t tell half the story, however.

Weymouth were without Kate Chard, Ellia Webb, Sophie Bonfield, and Ruby Clark. The later will be out for some time having contracted glandular fever.

That meant a first league start between the sticks for Issy Heybourne, whilst Sofia O’Connell and Chloe Lepage stepped up from the development team.

Heybourne was into the action early on as the league leaders looked to stamp their authority on the game. A flowing Poole move was thwarted by a good save from Heybourne.

On 11 minutes a first time shot from a corner was well held by Heybourne, and then 2 minutes later she made another good save from a curling shot, as the Terras weathered the early onslaught.

The Terras slowly began to get a foothold in the contest and they had their first chance of the match on 18 minutes. Roberts found Redding on the edge of the D with a cross-field pass, but the ball wouldn’t quite sit for Redding to have a shot. Instead she layed the ball off for Fowler who hit one from around 25 yards, and the Poole goalkeeper did well to hold onto it.

Poole counter-attacked and managed to get in behind the defence, but just as the striker was about the pull the trigger, Emma Potter flew in with a heroic last ditch tackle.

Tegen Standen then warmed the goalkeeper’s palms with a free kick from range, before Heybourne had to be on her guard to hold onto a swerving long range strike.

On 28 minutes, the home side made the breakthrough with a powerful strike which Heybourne got a hand to, but she couldn’t prevent the goal.

Weymouth’s heads didn’t drop and they continued to pose questions of their own. A Lucy Roberts free kick was punched away by the home keeper before Emily Screen curled a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the D just beore the break.

Weymouth started the second half well and had a good spell of pressure. Redding saw a shot held by the keeper, before a Lucy Roberts corner caused a game of pinball in the Poole box before it was eentually cleared.

The home side then regained control for a period and had chances to double their lead. There was a scramble in the Terras’ box from a corner which saw a couple of shots blocked before the danger was cleared, and a couple of long range efforts which were wide of the mark.

With 20 minutes to go, Poole had a one v one opportunity, but once again Potter saved the day with a last ditch challenge, before 2 follow up strikes were blocked by defenders. Potter was then on hand again on 73 minutes to make another heroic challenge, as Weymouth stayed in the contest going in the later stages.

On 81 minutes, Weymouth had their best chance of an equaliser. Tegen Standen showed brilliant balance and control to wriggle past a couple of challenges into the box, and her stinging shot was well saved by the goalkeeper. The ball came back out for Screen on the edge of the box and her first time effort was wide of the post.

Sophie Perry then tried her luck from range but her free kick wasn’t troubling the goalkeeper.

Weymouth were finishing strongly, and on 86 minutes, the games major talking point occured.

A slick passing move down the left resulted in Redding getting away from the defence and racing through on goal. She ran into the box, and just as she was about the pull the trigger, she was clipped by a defender. The whole ground waited for the referee to point to the spot, but to the amazement of Weymouth, he waived play on. And to really rub salt into the wounds, Poole counter-attached and doubled their lead to seal the points.

Bitter frustration for Weymouth who then had to finish the game with 10 players as Redding was sin-binned, and their sense of injustice was further compounded in added time as Poole took full advantage of their numerical advantage to create an overload and add a third goal.

A very difficult one to swallow for the Terras. They put a lot into the game and felt they deserved something from it given their second half showing, but the scoreline was very cruel.

A frustrating result, but an encouraging all round performance from the Terras. They’ll dust themselves down and look to return to winning ways when they welcome Purton to the BLS next week.

The development team’s Dorset league fixture against Bournemouth Manor was postponed. They’re now without a game until after New Year.

Terras starting XI: Heybourne, Potter, Standen, Ellis, Screen, Fowler, Redding, Wilson, Billing, Roberts, Davis. Subs – Thornicroft, Perry, O’Connell, Sapsford, Lepage.

Player of the match – Tegen Standen