At a sunny Town ground in Wantage this afternoon, AFC Newbury Ladies Reserves took on their local rivals Wantage Town Ladies in a Thames Valley Division 2 South fixture.

In a tight and evenly contested contest, and despite going down by two goals to one, this was a performance to be proud of by the second string of the Newbury Ladies squad.

Bouyant from their 7-0 thrashing of Hillingdon Ladies last Sunday there was plenty of confidence in the team despite a number of absentees from last weeks victory. Both teams appeared to be evenly matched and both sets of forwards were lively if not a little ineffectual.

In defence, Sam McConnon, Lorna Parr, Kerriann “Crusher” Thorpe, and the much improved Gemma Ball, all worked as a well drilled unit and coped quite well against the lively forwards of ‘Town’.

Despite the absence of injured Lauren Sheldon, the midfield played very well. Kate Pike, the Reserves team captain, led by example with a sterling performance alongside my ‘man-of-the-match’ Sue Hewett. Sue displayed some fine trickery the like of which had never been seen in public before and was very positive. Roisin Winston at last began to look like a footballer and performed as such. Great tackling and spirit inspired those around her. A mention must be made of Sam Williamson who, as a former Wantage player, played with great verve and tried to link play between the back four and the forwards. Depite receiving a fiercely struck ball straight in the face which pole-axed her and had to receive lengthy treatment from the ‘Town’ physio, she continued and had a good opportunity to score.

The forwards, Pam Hartley and Sian Makepeace, tried their best to force chances on the Town goal. Pam scored her third goal of the season with a piece of individual expertise as she passed a couple of ‘Town’ players to score a consolation goal for Newbury. Sian appeared to run out of steam 10 minutes into the second half and was replaced by Rachael Harrison.

In goal, Hollie Randall, looked assured and coped very well with the long ball efforts of the Town forwards. She was very unlucky to concede the two goals. The first was an own goal by Lorna and the second a very good long range shot which gave her no chance.

Tony McConnon changed the shape of the team following the addition of Rachel and went to three at the back and Rachel made it six in midfield along with Sam. This stirred the team into some worthwhile but fruitless attacks on the Town goal.

Despite going down 2-1 AFC Newbury had plenty of possession and crafted a number of chances which, if taken, should have resulted in a win. Tony’s half-time talk quite rightly included the line “this team is for the taking”. However, it was not to be and AFC Newbury will have to wait until the New Year to take their revenge in the return match at the Rangers in Kintbury.

Reporter: Ifor Sheldon