Palace win Titch Willett Memorial Trophy

Herne Bay Ladies 1
Vicky Holness

Crystal Palace Ladies 5

Pre Season Fixture - Titch Willett Memorial Trophy

Sunday 17th August 2014

at Winch’s Field

by Anthony Deer

(Photo credit: Terry Kemp - Vicky Holness scorer of the Herne Bay Ladies goal)

Finally after a long summer with no football, Herne Bay Ladies began their match preparations by hosting Crystal Palace Ladies at Winch’s Field for a preseason friendly. With three players missing, it gave the opportunity for a couple of new players to show their talent. A warm welcome to Jamie Welch who has decided to sign for us from Charlton Athletic Development team for back up to Rachel Tracy and Beth Nugent. Jamie made her debut as Beth is away in America on holiday. With Lesley Kay unavailable another debut was given to Nicola Harris who slotted into the midfield.

The first half proved difficult because of the weather. Sunshine, torrential rain and gusting winds made playing in the elements tough. However, we had some good defensive shape about us and going forward we looked good at times. Herne Bay had the first real chance when after Harriet Chapman was bought down just outside the box, Vicky Holness stepped up to take the free kick, the resulting kick hit the crossbar and the follow up went over the bar. It was a half of limited chances for both teams, Crystal Palace had their first real chance when a through ball for the striker saw her hit the ball wide of the goal. Some good defending by Herne Bay at corners and set pieces stopped Palace from scoring. A free kick from Rachel Tracy saw Carly Farrow’s header go agonizingly over the cross bar. But Crystal Palace first goal came from a rare mistake from Breeze Handley in between the sticks. But this didn’t deter the ladies as they pushed on and tried to cause problems. Vicky, Kate and Harriet caused all sorts of problems but couldn’t find that elusive goal.

The second half, we changed our shirts (as there was a small clash of colours) and we kicked up the slope. We started a little bit slowly and we found ourselves two goals down within five minutes of the start. Crystal Palace played some nice football at times, but it was a good combination between, Sarah Holmes, Harriet and Tor that led to our goal. The final ball was given to Vicky Holness whose shot went over the goalkeeper and into the net. From here Palace looked shell shocked, even more so when Carly Farrow hit the crossbar from a 25 yard strike. However, the turning point of the game was a penalty awarded, Breeze nearly got a hand to it but it managed to just go past her. With 25 minutes left the fitness began to show as Palace started to cause more problems, making good movements down the wings. Palace scored a fourth courtesy of our own player and with five minutes remaining scored a fifth. The final whistle blew and although not a score line used to by the ladies, a very good work out.

Although some people may look at the score line and think about the negatives in this game. For our first game back, rustiness, fitness and new personnel were always going to be major factors but as long as we keep focus and learn from today’s experience we will become stronger and ready for the first game of the season. The fact we conceded five goals, three of them were gifts but our defensive shape in the first half as a team was very pleasing to see, as all the team helped each other when they got out of position on different attacks. The team we played today although a mixture of first team and reserves show why they play two divisions higher than us, but for long periods of time we held our own and didn’t look out of place on the field. A few things will need to be looked at on the training ground in the next couple of weeks ready for our first league game. I think we can hold our own this season in the SECWFL Premier Division and hopefully push on again and it would be nice to retain the league cup but as always we will take one game at a time ensuring that we continue to do the right things at the right time and learn from the errors we make.

Herne Bay FC Ladies Match Squad: Breeze Handley, Emma Brown, Rachel Tracy, Jaime Welch, Debbie Blackmore, Carly Farrow, Kate Foster, Sarah Holmes. Nicola Harris, Harriet Chapman, Vicky Holness, Isabella Tulett, Ashley Bandages, Victoria Whiting, Elizabeth Lehan

Player of the Match: Emma Brown