South East Counties Womens Football League - Div 1[W] - 4th Sept 2005
Alison Field “Player of the Match” on her debut
Abbey Rangers 3 Haywards Heath 2nds 2 ( Yoli Rietmann, Alison Field)
The game started off with Haywards Heath the better side by far. The defence of Julie Hawthorne, Nikki Whatford and Player of the Match Alison Field looking solid and the attackers Yoli Rietmann & Natalie Trend troubling Abbey Rangers defence with their pace.
After 20 minutes of Heath pressure a long ball was played to Francesca Pritlove, she got down the wing and crossed the ball to Rietmann who buried it in the back of the net, a well deserved opening goal. This goal seemed to be a wake up call to Abbey Rangers who then started to put pressure on Heath, after Rangers had passed the ball around pulling the Heath defence out of position a cross was put in to the back post where 2 Rangers players were unmarked leaving goal keeper Claire Imray with no chance.
The second half Heath started much the same as the first half playing the better football of the two sides. Kev Mosen and Louise Rice battled well in mid-field winning countless headers and putting pressure on the Abbey middle four. After 10 minutes of all Heath pressure the ball was deftly played back by Louise Rice to Alison Field Heath’s left back. Field was 35 yards from goal had a first time shot that curled straight into the far top corner of the goal. A spectacular goal to score on her debut for the club a definite contender for goal of the season. After this goal the play looked pretty even, the heat had slowed the pace of the game from both sides and it looked like Heath would take the 3 points. This unfortunately was not the case as Heath ran out of steam on the 80th minute with Rangers scoring a runaway goal. This spurred the home side on sensing they might steal a victory and they scored again on the 83rd minute. Heath were by now exhausted and had nothing left in the tank to fight back. Although this was a game lost in the dying minutes, many positives can be taken away with Alison Field and Hayley Plummer both making an excellent debut and many of the team playing at a higher level than last season and not looking out of their depth With higher fitness levels, and a few more matches under their belts Heath would have been run out winners. The return game should be another matter.
Team :Claire Imray, Julie Hawthorne (Capt), Alison Field, Nikki Watford, Keveena Mosen, Louise Rice, Francesca Pritlove, Mica Saunders, Hayley Plummer (Jo Stevenson 45mins), Yoli Rietmann, Natalie Trend.
To return to the "Results" page