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Sunday 12 October 2003
FA Nationwide Women's Premier League, Southern Division
| Barnet Ladies |
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AFC Wimbledon |
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Match report
BARNET LADIES 1 AFC WIMBLEDON LADIES 2
AFC Wimbledon's Ladies, resplendent in their new blue and yellow kit, took on bottom of the table Barnet Ladies at Hanwell Town. Despite their lowly status, Barnet only lost by the odd goal in three at Kingsmeadow six weeks ago, and combined with the usual rivalry in this fixture another close match was expected. Kylie Davies started in place of out-of-favour Vicky Dodds and Amy Price was alongside Beth Sims up front instead of Keisha Ramos, sidelined with an ankle injury.
The first half was very open, with both sides pushing forward and looking to open the scoring, but Dons' superb approach play creating the clearer chances. Three good chances came in the opening ten minutes; Amy Price tangling the ball between her feet in front of goal, a dangerous cross whipped across the six yard box just eluding the forwards and Beth Sims cutting in from the right and shooting low, producing a fine save from ex-Don Ljungdahl in the Barnet goal. With quarter of an hour gone, Beth Curtis beat two players and forced a smart save from Tracey Perry. A forceful run an cross from the right by Kylie Davies after twenty minutes almost put in Amy Price, but the keeper just beat her to it. Another smart save by Perry in the 26th minute preceded the opener, fine work through the middle sent Price clear down the right and her clip in from the edge of the box was turned home on the half-volley by Beth SIMS. Barnet almost hit back immediately, Perry failing to react to a ball over the top and being lobbed by a forward, but Rachel Axon was on hand to clear off the line. Still more chances fell AFC's way; 32 minutes in Maria Bertelli fed Price through the middle of a crowded box, but Ljungdahl again blocked the effort, six minutes later Bertelli shot inches over with a drive from 25 yards and three minutes before the break Sims knocked the ball in from the left and Michelle Riley crashed the half cleared ball against the bar from the same distance.
AFC started the second half brightly too, and seven minutes in Sims shot wide when she had a little more time than she realised. Five minutes later and Laura Smith should have wrapped up the points when Sims cross, after a marauding run down the left by Axon, found her six yards out and unmarked in front of an empty net, but in her haste she somehow scooped it well over the bar. That let-off seemed to revitalise Barnet, and a couple of minutes later they could have drawn level with a similar move, but their first time shot skewed wide. Sarah Mulligan was introduced to the fray after 71 minutes, replacing Riley who had turned in a divot and twisted her ankle, and this opened up the Dons back four and Barnet capitalised with eight minutes left on the clock, Perry again failing to react to a ball over the top until it was too late and she was easily rounded by the (suspiciously offside looking) Amy JOSLAND who calmly rolled the ball into the empty net. This was a hammer blow to the Dons - it would be unfair to say Barnet didn't deserve a goal, but it would also be fair to say that Dons should have reasonably been four or five up by that stage! Cometh the hour, cometh the woman and, with seconds remaining, super sub Sarah MULLIGAN picked the ball up in the centre of midfield, bustled her way through two tackles and curled a peach into the stranded keepers' top right corner to seal a late victory.
Overall, a far better performance than the score-line suggests, with the midfield and defence all performing better than I've seen previously and only poor finishing and a mistake from Tracey taking the edge off things. |
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