April/May 2002 News

Reserves' Cup Winners 2002

Lisa Price, Becky Cummins, Terri Forward, Francesca O'Callaghan, Anne Kane, Amy Graves, Becky James, Kim Bates, (front) Amanda Cue, Natalie Waller, Sam Lunniss, Sarah Crockford, Natalie Bungay, Tracey Naden, Siana Sisley.

(Photo © Andy Bates 2002)

The 2nds finished the season in style, scoring three times in the last fifteen minutes to stun red-hot favourites Brighton and win the Reserves Cup for the second time. After a dreadful opening half hour in which the most polite thing that can be said is that we struggled to adjust to the surface, we got into the game and despite not producing the quality of Brighton's passing moves looked dangerous going forward. Neither keeper had much to do in a fairly turgid first half, but the game opened up in the second, with Tracey Naden busier than her Brighton counterpart. The first good chance of the evening fell to us, Fran's excellent right wing cross flying across the face of goal but just ahead of Nat Bungay steaming in at the far post. The game followed a familiar pattern, with Brighton enjoying the majority of possession but foundering in our third, with us hitting them on the break. All the notable action was compressed into the final 15 minutes as, with the game looking like going into extra time, pressure from Becky James on their centre backs created the opening goal. As they dithered in possession on the edge of their penalty area, Becks challenged and won the ball. With players diving in from all angles, the ball broke loose to Nat who poked it home through a crowd of bodies.

After a mass love-in to celebrate the goal, play restarted with Brighton throwing everything at us, and with something to defend we started to panic and waste possession. We survived a massive scare a few minutes later as a (suspiciously offside) Brighton striker broke clear of the defence but with only Tracey Naden to beat put her shot into the side netting. Unfortunately Siana aggravated a hamstring strain chasing back so Kim dropped into defence with Lisa coming on at left midfield. She made an immediate impact with her tireless chasing down that side, taking the ball and slipping it to Terri. Terri's pass to Nat carved open the defence, and Nat drew her marker before squaring to Becky whose first shot was blocked by the keeper but the followup hit the back of the net.

The scoreline was taking on a fantasy aspect, but there were still eight minutes to play! Brighton piled on the pressure and we rode our luck as Gravesy dived into a challenge in the box, their player went down, but the ref ignored a massive shout for a penalty from the Brighton supporters. Gravesy then went down with cramp and with her off the pitch we conceded a dangerous free kick right on the edge of the box. The kick was perfectly struck and was dipping under the bar but Tracey pulled off a superb save to push the ball onto the face of the bar and after a couple of trouser-soiling moments it was cleared. Little Becks had run herself into the ground and had herself gone down with cramp so Nat Waller came on as an extra striker with Sarah dropping deeper. Brighton still came piling forward, and soon we lost Sam Lunniss from the defence, also with cramp, Amanda replacing her and Anne switching to centre back.

With the defence looking incredibly makeshift it looked only a matter of time before Brighton pulled a goal back but amazingly we went further ahead just before the end, a left wing cross being hammered in on the volley for Nat B's second of the game. Brighton knew the game was up then and in the last minute or so we relaxed and kept the ball, the final whistle signalling the Mother of All Celebrations(tm) which continued long into the night. What a great way to finish the season!

Needing to win by eight goals to finish any higher than fourth place, the task facing the first team was enormous and Hastings played their part in an entertaining game that was close throughout. After an even first ten minutes, we took the lead through TC, an excellent finish after a neat passing move involving Cha and Ellie. Hastings certainly seemed stronger than the side we beat 4-0 a few weeks ago, and always looked threatening, Kerry having to clear off the line on the half hour with Woody beaten. However we were soon 2-0 up, a good through ball allowing Ellie to get clear of her marker and shoot under the keeper. Hastings came back at us after half time, and slack defending allowed Becky Brand to run almost 30 yards before slipping the ball under Woody to put them back in contention. Michelle restored our advantage with a trademark free kick from 25 yards, and as the game petered out we took the opportunity of giving first team debuts to Francesca and Becky Cummins.

The first team's season is now over but the 2nds have a friendly on Sunday against Tonbridge in preparation for their Cup Final on Wednesday 1st.

Needing a win to keep alive their outside chance of the League title, the firsts eventually went down 2-1 to a battling Malling side unbeaten in the League all season. We started superbly, stroking the ball around and making them look extremely ordinary, and we were rewarded on 15 minutes as a snap shot from Cha took a deflection off a Malling defender and sneaked in at the far corner with the keeper wrong footed. We continued to dominate the first half without taking advantage of the chances created, but survived a scare a minute from half time when Nicky Penfold got clear of the defence but shot wide with only Woody to beat. The second half was much more even, and became increasingly tetchy as the game wore on - this seemed to affect our game, with players being drawn into the physical battles and getting more uptight, and as a unit we lost our discipline. Malling equalised with 20 minutes to go, a through ball allowing Penfold to run through, and although her initial shot was blocked, she collected her teammate's pass from the rebound and slotted home with her second attempt. Desperate to regain the lead, we pushed players on, and the inevitable happened in the fifth minute of stoppage time when Penfold again caught the defence square, sprinted clear and rifled the ball past Woody. We now need Malling to get a result at Redhill next Sunday to allow us to take the runners-up slot by beating Hastings a week on Thursday (25th April).

The seconds went down 5-2 to Tonbridge in their last League game of the season, Sarah getting both our goals. Their final game is the Reserves Cup Final vs Brighton 3rds on 1st May at Three Bridges FC.

The firsts hammered a depleted Isle of Wight side 10-0 this afternoon but apart from a lightning start failed to show their best form against battling but mediocre opposition. 2-0 up in the first two minutes through Ellie and Nat Bungay, we then dropped the pace a bit but had doubled the score before 15 minutes was up, Ellie (again) and Kirsty finding the net. From that moment on we stopped playing our passing game on the floor and let the weather take control, mishit or overhit passes catching in the wind and allowing the Isle of Wight players possession they didn't really deserve. The visitors were reduced to ten players on the half hour as one of their defenders handled on the goal-line, Cha hammered home the penalty but was then ordered to retake it as players had encroached on the kick. Needless to say she blasted the second attempt over the bar! Our fifth goal, just before half time, was another right-foot screamer from Nat but our buildup play really wasn't going very well. With the wind at our backs in the second half, things should have improved but the quality really wasn't there. A lovely lob from TC gave us our sixth, two more from Ellie sandwiched a close range strike from Cha as she converted Michelle's cross, and there was time for a first-ever first team goal from Nat Waller, on as a second half sub.

Thw 2nds lost 6-3 at Worthing, in a match dominated by the hard, bumpy surface. Crowborough scorers were Lisa (her first for the club), Becky C and an own goal.