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Thursday 22 April 2004
FA Nationwide Women's Premier League, Southern Division
| AFC Wimbledon |
5 |
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1 |
Portsmouth Ladies |
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Match report
AFC WIMBLEDON LADIES 5-1 PORTSMOUTH LADIES
Dons' manager Graham Newnham felt compelled to give his charges a rocket at half time, but was buzzing after the match as the team rose to the challenge presented by a fluent Portsmouth side and recorded their sixth straight win to keep their hopes of second place alive.
The postponement on Sunday left both sides missing key players, notably captain Maria Bertelli for the Dons and Katie Poore for Pompey. Laura Smith was given the midfield holding role, with new England Under 17 international Kylie Davies playing to her right.
Dons came out of the blocks fastest, Sarah Mulligan's deep corner from the right causing confusion in the box after only five minutes, and the same player's cross from the opposite side drifting dangerously just over the bar four minutes later. Portsmouth rode out the early storm and started putting passes together, although their opening goal on nineteen minutes was down to poor defending rather than good attacking play. Tracy Perry's rushed clearance fell to an opposing player deep in the Dons' half and the Pompey player cut through the right side of the defence before crossing low across the face of the goal for Carly Palmer to tap in from a couple of yards. It took AFC only nine minutes to get level. Kylie Davies played a ground ball through to Julie Bygrave who touched the ball back for Sarah Mulligan. One step forward and the Dons' midfielder unleashed a Mully special from thirty yards that left the Pompey keeper clutching thin air. Portsmouth had a chance to regain the lead on 35 minutes when captain Stacey Niven ran through a sudden gap in the home defence, but Perry pushed her wide and she could only find the side-netting with her shot. Three minutes later and Mulligan was again involved, her cross from the right finding the head of Rachael Axon but it was parried to the edge of the box. Laura Smith's follow-up shot was dramatically cleared off the line. With the wind in their sails AFC pressed forward in search of a half-time lead. A minute before the break Kylie Davies was brought down on the edge of the box. Mulligan stepped up, but her shot was blocked by the wall, bringing protests of handball from the players and crowd, but ignored by the ref. Justice was served when the cleared ball was played back forward and a clever one-two between Laura Smith and Julie Bygrave gave the former the opportunity to thread in top scorer Beth Sims. Back to goal on the right edge of the box, Sims turned her defender inside out, cut inside and curled a left-footed peach inside the far post. With seconds of the half remaining a cross from Portsmouth caught the wind and deceived Perry, who was happy to grab the ball back off the post.
The second half brought a much more controlled performance from the AFC ladies as they played the ball around purposefully and made Pompey chase the game which, to their credit, they never gave up trying to do. Sarah Mulligan made the chase even harder ten minutes in, curling home a central free kick from fully thirty five yards, although the keeper made a bit of a hash of it. Five minutes later and the game was over as a contest, Michelle Riley adding to her recent goal-scoring feats with a powerful downward header from another Mulligan corner. With just over twenty minutes left on the clock came the goal of the game, and a contender for goal of the season. Patient play across the back and into midfield lead to Julie Bygrave picking up the ball on the left, ten yards inside the Portsmouth half. Beating one player, she fed the ball forward to Beth Sims, back to goal just inside the box. Holding the ball up, Sims then laid the ball square into the path of the onrushing Keisha Ramos who hit the ball in her stride with the outside of her left foot and the ball curled into the far corner, prompting mass celebrations from her team-mates. A couple of minutes later and Perry was beaten, but Vicky Elcome was coolness personified on the line and cleared comfortably. And that, with fifteen minutes to go, was pretty much that. Rose Maskell and Danni Davies replaced Julie Bygrave and Kylie Davies with thirteen minutes to go, and Maskell almost scored with her first touch, out-jumping a Portsmouth defender to head Beth Sims perfect cross goal-wards, only to find the keeper in the way, and Sims almost broke clear after a cute turn only for her boot to come off as she bore down on goal.
The victory guarantees the Dons' ladies at least third place, and if Bristol City fail to beat Millwall on Sunday and AFC beat Millwall on Wednesday it's a winner takes all fight for second place when Bristol City host AFC next Sunday!
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