Winning Start to Premier Campaign

Herne Bay Ladies (3) 4
Holness 3, Blackmore 38 (pen), Brown 42, Foster 47

Meridian (0) 1

at Winch’s Field

South East Counties Women’s League (Premier Division)
Sunday 31st August 2014.

Attendance: not recorded

by Anthony Deer

(photo credit: Steve Barton – Emma Brown wheels away after netting the third goal.)

Finally the day everyone has been waiting for. Our first league game in the SECWFL Premier Division, we welcomed Meridian Ladies to Winch’s Field, our new home for the season. New teams and new challenges await, none so more than fitness, a mixed preparation during preseason with only playing one match due to teams dropping out last minute and weather has not given us the match fitness we strived for. However, the depth in quality all over the pitch is going to help us through the first month as we use the games to get the sharpness needed to compete and get used to the next level.

The mood today before the game was of high spirits, all the team were buzzing and were quite relieved to get the season underway. After a couple of nervy minutes, top goal scorer Vicky Holness found some time after a defensive mistake to calmly lob the Meridian goalkeeper, Vicky could have doubled the lead had it not been for the crossbar after she hit a free kick towards the goal. Meridian were subject to only long range efforts.

The second goal came from a training ground corner for which a Meridian defender handled the ball in the area resulting in the award of a penalty kick. Debbie Blackmore stepped up and converted to double the lead. The key to success is to move the ball more and trust each other as a team, this was evident in the lead up to the third goal. Some lovely neat football was played to the wing by Emma Brown where Harriet Chapman picked the ball up and crossed it into the near post where Emma continued her run and got in front of the defender to put it past the keeper. The half time whistle went and we had a comfortable lead. The ladies are beginning to realise that after a comfortable lead, to win the game we just don’t concede, teams will come at us and spaces will appear to create more chances. Almost straight after the restart, once again Vicky Holness picked up the ball in a wide area and put in a perfect cross for Kate Foster to bead home from close range.

Meridian were now getting frustrated and still shooting from long range, not really testing Breeze Handley between the sticks. Meridian had their first real chance when their centre forward leached onto a long ball only to pull her shot wide of the post. Moments later, Meridian got their goal. A free kick outside the box was hit just over the reach of Breeze to give them a little bit of hope. The last 15 minutes of the game were difficult as fitness became an issue, but running on fumes we still had chances to extend the lead as well as defending as a team we stopped any serious chances from the Meridian forward line.

All in all, a great start to the season, fitness we can work on over the coming weeks to help us maintain our levels throughout the entire match. We are now not the underdog in games and teams will be raising their games to try and beat us. But we will take each game as it comes and set up to ensure we continue to be successful in this league campaign. Next up is Long Lane away, a team we will not under estimate and will approach this game like every other.

Herne Bay Ladies Squad: Breeze Handley, Emma Brown, Rachel Tracy, Beth Nugent, Debbie Blackmore, Carly Farrow, Sarah Holmes, Nicola Harris, Kate Foster, Vicky Holness, Harriet Chapman, Isabella Tulett, Bella Smith, Ashley Bantages, Sarah Cooper.

Player of the Match: Kate Foster

Referee: Dave Shrewsbury