Ladies graft leads to an important win

Following a tricky few days, the task for the Ladies Team players was to put that behind them and go and show what they were made of on the pitch. They did that in style on Sunday against Sedgley & Gornal United.

Knowle were quick out the blocks and looked to play positively from the start, pressing high up the pitch and forcing a couple of errors in the Sedgley backline. The first chance of the game came from a set piece, when Michelle McCormack thundered a free kick against the bar and Demi Rolph couldn’t quite turn in the rebound. The home side soon picked up and matched the tempo that Knowle had set however, and both teams exchanged good passages of play. The Sedgley forward smashed a shot on goal that Sam Smith blocked and from the resulting corner Maz Byrne did well to head away under pressure. Rolph then skipped round the opposition right back with ease but her shot was smothered by the keeper at the near post. Knowle’s energetic striker wasn’t to be denied a goal for much longer though! Her team mates won possession deep in their own half and played the ball into Camile Abbott’s feet in the middle. Abbotts spread play well and found Jess Holland out wide, whose forward pass fell to Rolph and she twisted out of trouble before beating the keeper for a 0-1 lead. Ten minutes later, United levelled when their striker was able to latch onto a short back pass and finished well past Katy Smirthwaite in the Knowle goal. The Robins almost went ahead again straight away, but McCormack’s effort was pushed wide by the keeper so they had to settle for a 1-1 halftime scoreline.

The away side were galvanised by the halftime team talk and started brightly again. Poppy Wheatstone’s introduction before halftime had made a real difference, and she was able to drag her side forward by holding the ball up well. Knowle were finding a lot of space on the left and this paid dividends in the 52nd minute; Emma Shaw played a great pass into Rolph who sped into the penalty area and slid it across the box for the onrushing Jess Barlow to fire home. Knowle really should have extended their lead but Smith’s header from a corner was poor and McCormack’s piledriver was tipped onto the crossbar by the Sedgley keeper. Shaw also went close with a free kick. It looked as though not extending the lead would haunt Knowle when the home side came right back at them. Smirthwaite had to watch a looping attempt carefully and claim near her front post but Sedgley did get their equaliser with 25 minutes left on the clock. A free kick went all the way to the back post for the Sedgley attacker to head back across goal, finding her teammate in acres of space to ram it into the net. Knowle didn’t let this set back dampen their spirits, and bringing the energy of Kate Fleming and Abbotts back onto the pitch helped them to push forward once more. Alice Belcher came close to a tap in but the goalkeeper just got hands to the ball, and Wheatstone was robbed by a great last ditch tackle. It took a while for the goal to come, but Knowle got their reward for the work rate they had put into the game on the 85th minute mark. Shaw’s free kick was clawed from under the crossbar, but Rolph’s front post run put her on home to stab the loose ball into the net. It was game management from there on in; Rach Keen had to be alive to race back and clear danger well, but Knowle dealt with any United attacks well. They then put some extra gloss on the result in the final minute; Wheatstone and Rolph combined to press a defender and the ball broke to Belcher who raced through to gleefully smash the ball beyond the keeper’s dive and give Knowle a 2-4 win.

Another exciting game against Sedgley & Gornal, these past two weeks have shown the two sides are well matched. A great crowd at the Dell Stadium too as many of the home side’s junior section were at the game – the atmosphere deserved a good game and hopefully the young players enjoyed the match if not the result. Knowle’s effort and attitude created a performance to be proud of though, and earned them the win in the end.

Knowle: Smirthwaite, Shaw, Byrne, Smith, Holland, McCormack, Fleming, Abbotts, Barlow, Belcher, Rolph.

Subs: Wheatstone (for Abbotts 40), Keen (for Fleming, 40)