It was Newbury Ladies who started positively, with skipper Kendall Gilmour having a shot strike the Barton post in the sixth minute. Alex Kovacsova reacted first to reach the rebound, but her shot too then hit the same post. It was a lucky escape for the home side, who were by now reeling. Newbury were unable to take advantage though and the Barton players did recover and settle into the opening half. The breakthrough came just after the half hour mark for Newbury, when Alice Hill stole into the area and cut the ball back into the path of Gilmour. She made no mistake this time, firing in from the edge of the box for one nil. Whilst Newbury finished the half strongly, it remained just a one goal lead at the break.

Newbury kept the momentum at the start of the second half and they kept up the pressure on the Barton back-line. Within ten minutes, they scored a second through Imogen Gibbons, who collected a long cross-field pass from Phoebe Gubb and then dispatched her shot coolly past the keeper. A slight mix-up in the Newbury defence then meant they conceded a goal and this gave Barton Rovers a lifeline. At 2-1 the game was back in the balance. Conceding seemed to spark Newbury’s players into life again, as they restored their two goal advantage just minutes later. Gubb was again the provider, but this time it was Alice Hill with a composed finish for 3-1 to Newbury.

Going on to ensure victory, Hill took a corner for Newbury and whilst the initial cross was half cleared, it only fell to Gilmour, who powered in a bullet header for 4-1. With just ten minutes remaining on the clock, Hill also scored her second of the game, this time latching onto a soft goal kick. But finding her back to goal, she turned the defender and worked the space for a shot from distance. It was another excellent finish from 25 yards out, steering the ball low into the far corner. And so this rounded up the scoring and it was a well-deserved 5-1 victory for Newbury Ladies. Their second victory of the campaign and it saw them move up to 6th in the Division 2 South table.

Having totally dominated the centre of the midfield, and with two goals to her name, Newbury’s Player of the Match was captain, Kendall Gilmour.

Match Report by Sue Hewett