Womens 3 Vs Newmarket 2

A rare defeat for St Neots Ladies 3s in East Division 4NW against a strong Newmarket 2s who benefited from a superb display of goalkeeping and a confident, hard hitting forward line.

St Neots Ladies 3s were at home with a full squad of 16 against a bare 11 Newmarket 2s. The Saints began strongly and took the play to the Newmarket D, with Becky Roberts providing plenty of strikes on the goal, followed up by 13-year old Ella Roberts, Lizell Heather and Hannah Thompson. But the Newmarket goalie proved too good, parrying the strikes easily and running out, dominating her D against the St Neots attack.

Their goalie seemed to give Newmarket control of the game, with St Neots struggling to compete against strong, confident, fast passing between the visitors. The Saints’ tendency to crowd the centre of the pitch and lose width contributed to Newmarket’s push with the first goal 11 minutes into the first half, from a short corner. The visitors short corner routine was well-practiced and they followed up with the second goal at the dying seconds of the first half.

The Saints defence of Rosy Sabatino, Katie Davidson-Smith, Karen Sutton and Andrea Pybus came under a great deal of pressure throughout the game, deflecting continual assaults through the centre. Andrea’s immense work rate throughout the entire game as centre defence earned her player of the match. Goalie Tara Bell battled one-on-one attacks, kicking and diving for everything, but with so many players in the D her line of sight was compromised with Newmarket scoring their third from a direct strike at the top of the D 12 minutes into the second half.

St Neots didn’t give up and kept pushing for a home goal. Poppy Presland provided some great runs down the right, finally drawing the ball wide and then feeding the ball into Katy Lloyd and Ella hovering in the Newmarket defensive D. The three juniors, unafraid to take on more than one Newmarket defender, began to rattle the visitors and the home supporters voiced their support for a goal. However, Newmarket remained strong and the match finished 0-3.