Newbury opened with some good passing moves in the first five minutes, winning the game’s first corner on the right, which resulted in a shot wide from Sophie Self. But then the visitors from Aldershot began to exert some attacking pressure of their own and they too, forced two corners. They converted from the second corner in the 14th minute after a terrible mix up in the Newbury defence, with goalkeeper, Chloe Hunt, beaten at her near post by one of her own defenders. It was an own goal and a gift for the visitors.

Newbury fell further behind midway through the half, when a long, central ball was latched onto by the Aldershot striker. Racing clear of the Newbury defence, she showed good composure to slot past Newbury’s keeper and into the corner of the net for two nil to Aldershot.

Still trailing by two goals at the half time break, Newbury had a mountain to climb, but they regrouped and came out with more purpose and drive in the second half. There was an immediate improvement, with Newbury back on the attack and creating two goal attempts in the first 7 minutes. There was now wave after wave of Newbury pressure, as they looked for away back into the match, but there was still no change to the score-line. Newbury captain, Caroline Harkness, then had an excellent chance on 65 minutes when she raced through for a one on one opportunity, after a good flicked header on by Laura Ainscough. Unfortunately for Newbury, the Aldershot keeper was more than equal to Harkness’ shot, blocking well and seeing the ball deflected away to safety. Harkness had another similar opportunity, although she was under more pressure this time from two Aldershot defenders and she could only scew her shot wide of the upright.

With the clock ticking down and only ten minutes of normal time remaining, Newbury changed to a back three and sent another attacker further forward. The gamble paid off just two minutes later, when the inspirational Harkness started a move down the right, playing a pass to Bex Walker. She in turn played a good pass back to the edge of the area, where Harkness had continued her run and she lobbed the ball from 25 yards, over the goalkeeper’s head and into the roof of the net. The deficit was halved and Newbury had a life line.

Just three minutes later and Harkness was again on the score sheet for Newbury. This time the architect was Ellie Reed, who sent in a good cross from the left wing. Harkness collected just inside the penalty area, this time on the left herself. She placed her shot to the right of the keeper, who was unable to reach it and it the ball sailed in. It was the Newbury equaliser and fully deserved based on the improved second half performance.

With just 5 minutes left, Newbury believed they had done enough to earn a point, but back again came Aldershot. Lorna Parr was moved back into defence for Newbury, but she was struck on the side of the head by a close range shot inside the penalty area, as she attempted to block a cross. In some distress, Parr had to be withdrawn and for the second time in three weeks, Newbury found themselves down to just ten players in the dying stage of a match. In the 90th minute, Newbury lost the ball near the half way line and Aldershot were able to work it towards goal and win themselves a corner. It was a good delivery and the head that met the cross was an Aldershot head. The header towards goal was thunderous and couldn’t be kept out. It proved to be Aldershot’s third goal and the winning goal, with Newbury having no time left to respond. The match ended in a 3-2 deficit for Newbury and they were left to rue what had been a sloppy first half performance.