Newbury Ladies Football
Match Report -- Season 2017-18
Pre-season Friendly
13th August 2017
Newbury Ladies 2 Woodley Utd 1
Newbury Ladies FC hosted Woodley United Ladies in a pre-season friendly match, which proved to be an evenly fought contest.

Woodley kicked off the match, but it was Newbury who had the first shot on goal, when Gemma Burnett forced a save for a corner from the visiting keeper. Burnett was looking very lively in the opening stages, after she tore down the left flank soon after, breaking from half way and reaching the by-line. Her cross was then cleared by the Woodley defence. Whilst Woodley went on to gain a corner of their own, it was Newbury Ladies that were looking more threatening as the first half wore on, with shots on target from Caz Harkness and Ellie Reed. Harkness had another chance to break the deadlock when she headed just over from a Reed corner just inside the half hour mark. The last action of the first half, saw Alice Hill for Newbury, crossing from wide left and the trajectory of the ball nearly fooled the goalkeeper. The ball looking to be heading for the far corner of the goal, but it instead skimmed the top of the cross bar and fell behind. That was the closest Newbury had come, but the match remained goal-less at the half time break.

Newbury made a change in defence for the second period, giving a debut to new signing, Nicole Pearce. The home side again started strongly, with another Harkness shot that was this time just wide of the post. With Shelley Forster adding some much needed bite to Newbury’s midfield, Harkness and Reed were enjoying their forays forward in attack for Newbury. But the game’s first goal came just after the hour, when Leanne Saunders calmly cleared forward under some Woodley pressure. Her lobbed ball sailed over the top of Woodley’s back line and Burnett raced clear to latch on to it. As the goalkeeper advanced, she deftly lifted her shot over the keeper’s head and saw it nestle into the net for Newbury’s first goal. One nil.

This stung Woodley into action and almost immediately they penetrated Newbury’s defence, creating a shooting chance from just inside the area. Newbury goalkeeper, Carly Passfield, saved well, diving with a strong hand to her left to deny the visitors. Newbury then took control again and they extended their lead on 71 minutes, with a wonder strike from distance from Reed, giving the goalkeeper no chance. Newbury did concede however just two minutes later, when they failed to close down the Woodley number 9 and her shot found the top corner. It was 2-1 now with 15 minutes to play.

Newbury gave further debuts to Marie Prout and Alexandra Kovacsova, and they were able to run out worthy winners, seeing the game out well for a 2-1 victory.

Match report by Sue Hewett

Players: Carly Passfield, Maria Rodrigues, Lauren Hanson, Leanne Saunders, Sam Atkins, Caz Harkness (Capt), Ellie Reed, Shelley Forster, Gemma Burnett, Alice Hill, Phoebe Gubb, Ruby Oliver, Nicole Pearce, Marie Prout, Alexandra Kovacsova.
Referee: Tom Walton
Goal scorers

Gemma Burnett
Ellie Reed

Player of the match
Shelley Forster
Next fixture

Southern Region Premier

League season closed
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