Match report
AFC WIMBLEDON LADIES 1 FULHAM LADIES XI 2
Although only a friendly fixture, this was billed as a bit of a grudge match as the two managers are brother-in-law and sister-in-law. With Dons missing Rachael Axon, Maria Bertelli, Vicky Elcome, Lauren Nuttall, Sarah Mulligan and Michelle Riley they were always going to have their work cut out, but England Under 18 International Gemma Hunt and Full England International Carly Hunt (twins borrowed for the evening, with thanks, from Doncaster Belles) both fitted in well and the reserve team players making the step up did so with aplomb.
The first half hour was very even, with Fulham's crisp passing and movement off the ball cancelled out by AFC's enthusiastic closing down and tackling. If anything, AFC were had the edge, even after Kelly Nethercoat came on for her first team debut when Keisha Ramos twisted her ankle, and it was against the run of play that Fulham took the lead, Becky Stokes cutting in from the left and beating a despairing lunge from Kylie Davies to just force the ball over the line. To their credit the Dons hit back on their next attack, Gemma Hunt shooting through a bunch of players in the six yard box after a header was cleared off the line. Two minutes later and Beth Sims could have put the Dons ahead, forcing her way through the middle and holding off two challenges before slotting the ball past the keeper but agonisingly wide of the post. Five minutes before the break and Jemma Lindfield was substituted after retaliating following a nasty looking tackle, but was allowed to resume after the break. AFC went in at the interval with Tracy Perry not having to make a save other than from distance, but still only level.
The second half started in similar fashion, and Beth Sims almost put the Dons in the lead three minutes in, controlling a ball from the right and beating a defender, only to see her lob under pressure grabbed out of the air at full stretch by the keeper. Ten minutes later and a free kick from deep was floated to the back post and found Laura Smith, but she was only able to head over. Roxanne Camp then came on for her first team debut, and with twenty minutes to go, fed Amy Price down the right line. Amy took it past a defender and put in a superb cross that found Laura Smith on the penalty spot, but her stinging shot was straight at the keeper and well saved. With less than a quarter of an hour to go Fulham's ex-Don Donique Sinclair-Chambers, fresh off the bench, started to use her pace to good effect down the centre, and only good work from Kylie and Tracy kept her at bay, but with five minutes to go she finally broke free, Tracy hesitated and Sinclair-Chambers slid the ball past in from fifteen yards for the winner. This was a bitter blow for the Dons girls who had worked so hard up to then, and really should have been in front, but the Fulham celebrations showed they had been in a game.
So, the best crowd of the season so far, and a good warm-up for the FA Women's Cup tie against Wolverhampton on Sunday. |
