Newbury welcomed back Chloe Hunt in goal and she was in fine form on what proved to be a busy afternoon for the Newbury back-line and goalkeeper. The visitors held out until the 24th minute, when Cheltenham took the lead after a spell of sustained pressure. There were further Cheltenham chances not taken, until Tracey Beales had a shot from distance for Newbury, that was unfortunately just wide of the upright.

Then Cheltenham extended their lead on 34 minutes and remained two nil up at the half time break.

After the interval, it was Newbury who started with more intent after good work on the left by Bex Walker and Tracy Beales. This led to the award of a Newbury free kick, which was crossed from wide by Nicky Isted. Her whipped ball was met with a good header by Maria Rodrigues, but the home keeper was able to claim and hold. Newbury’s captain, Caroline Harkness, was showing plenty of skill and she kept probing in the middle of park. There was also some neat link up play involving Amie Barnard and Sam Atkins was strong time and time again in the tackles in midfield.

It was a much improved display from Newbury in the second half, but they were still to be undone by Cheltenham’s clinical finishing, when they made it 3-0 midway through the half. But then came Newbury’s brightest moment, when a clever bit of invention from Alice Hill almost gave the visitors a goal. Spotting the Cheltenham goalkeeper off her line, she tried a first time lob with the outside of the boot, only to see the ball strike the cross bar and rebound away to safety.

Sadly for Newbury, Cheltenham went straight down the other end and scored again to make it 4 nil after 81 minutes. And Newbury conceded again in injury time to go down by 5 goals to nil. But there were plenty of positives for Newbury, especially the emergence of Player of the Match, Nicky Isted, who shone on a testing afternoon.

Match report by Sue Hewett