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Sunday 17 August 2003 FA Nationwide Women's Premier League, Southern Division
Chelsea Ladies
2
-
1
AFC Wimbledon
Match report
CHELSEA LADIES 2 AFC WIMBLEDON LADIES 1
AFC Wimbledon opened their League campaign for the season with a tough fixture against old rivals Chelsea at Hampton & Richmond's Beveree ground.
There were more than a fair sprinkling of replica Dons tops in the crowd - I shan't mention them by name as long as they donate a fiver to the Dons Trust, but they easily made up more than 50% of the attendance (and made more than 90% of the noise).
Unfortunately, I can't comment on the programme, as the late arrival of the Chelsea officials meant that sales were abandoned (and no entrance fee charged!). Even the Don's officials never got their hands on one. If anyone out there has one spare, you know who to contact!
And so, finally, to the game. From the kick off (delayed by a couple of minutes while the referee sent an assistant to find the ladies!) Dons worked the ball down the left to Beth SIMS who cut inside an smashed the ball past Chelsea's young debutant keeper. This must have been one of the quickest goals in the history of the club, at any level - timed at about 15 seconds!
The rest of the half was pretty even, with Dons perhaps having the edge on the ball and Chelsea looking more dangerous up front but unable to convert the chances made. Unfortunately, as AFC attempted to clear from one of Chelsea's attacks their little midfield number 8, Nicky De la Salle, committed her second yellow card trip of the match and was, maybe a little harshly, sent off. Unfortunately her reaction to some very gentle (by usual standards) goading cannot be printed in this report (maybe WUP!), which was a little unfortunate (if not a little amusing).
Dons seemed to lose their in the second half, with Keisha Ramos dropping back into midfield and leaving Beth Sims to play the lone striker (remember we were also a man up), but despite increasingly persistent Chelsea pressure it looked like the ladies would hold firm. Chelsea had other thoughts, however, and two goals in the last five minutes from Tanya Beverley (rounded the keeper) and Amber Cook (drive from 10 yards) gained them all three points.
