Carly Passfield, in goal, at this stage had little to do but when she did collect a ball her kick was headed on by Rodrigues to Beesley whose first time pass was just too strong for Kovacsova. So it continued with more shots by Imogen Gibbons, Rodrigues and Gilmour. Unfortunately the shots were off target or at the keeper. Flackwell’s first real attack came on 20 minutes when they were awarded a free kick but the Newbury defence dealt with this. Rodrigues then received the ball from Kovacsova and struck the ball well and on target only to be thwarted by an excellent diving save by the keeper just inside the post. Almost immediately after this Newbury opened the scoring from a corner when left back Lauren Sheldon headed the ball strongly which the keeper parried but was unable to stop Kovacsova from more or less walking the ball into the net on the far post. For the rest of the half there were a series of Newbury corners and free kicks interrupted by a couple of Flackwell breakaways which required some strong defending where shots were charged down heroically by the Newbury defence, in particular Sam McConnon and Nicole Pearce. Half time came with Newbury 1-0 up.

The Second half started much as the first half with Newbury winning a series of corners and getting in shots which were generally off target. Then 24 minutes into the half Flackwell had a rare attack when there no 9 broke through the middle and with a one on one with the Newbury keeper took to goal exceptional well to make the score an unlikely 1-1. Minutes later there was a long delay when a Flackwell player mistimed a tackle and suffered a serious ankle injury and had to be stretchered off and an ambulance called. Play was suspended for well over 10 minutes. Minutes later the Flackwell no 9, Laura Gutteridge, again broke through and repeated her previous strike to make the score an even more unlikely 1-2. Gilmour then had a really good shot on target just inside the post when the keeper made another outstanding save for a corner.

Within minutes another Flackwell player went down and had to be carried off after a significant delay. These extended delays really appeared to get to Newbury who, for a while, seemed to be unable to get out of their own half. But for the final 10 minutes of the game, with a second half that lasted over an hour due to the injuries, it was all Newbury. Attack after attack came but somehow the ball was defended by the heroic Flackwell defence who now comprised all 10 outfield players, for the most part no more than 20 yards from goal.

It had been a compelling game for the neutral but Newbury where left to wonder what might have been. Apart from the significant injuries to their players Flackwell were obviously delighted.

Match Report by Jack Harkness