Northampton Town 4-2 WCWFC
WCWFC Starting Line Up
City’s first away game of the season in the FA Women’s National League saw us fall to a hard-fought defeat against Northampton Town despite two city goals from Dolloway and Mitcham.
The first 10 minutes of the game saw relatively little action between the two teams but Bellamy’s great ball through in the 11th minute nearly gave Fassnidge her second goal of the season which was saved by the Northampton keeper. Our opponents, who finished 5th in FA Women’s National League last season then put themselves ahead after Flitney’s challenge in the box resulted in a Northampton penalty which Farrow slid to the keeper’s right. Northampton then doubled their advantage with Bell as she dribbled through the city defence before firing a low shot home.
City rallied after conceding however and in the 35th minute, a well-executed Fassnidge corner resulted in Dolloway poking the ball in the net from close range. Only 5 minutes later however, a corner down the other end resulted in another Northampton goal with Luttman slamming the ball into the roof of the net from a few yards out.
At half time, City made 3 changes with Jones, Ballard and Baldwin making way for Robinson, Bate and Congrave. After the break, City came out strongly, pressing the Northampton back line and keeper well. A well timed press from Mitcham resulted in her winning the ball and cooly dribbling round the keeper to make the score 3-2. This goal further energised City with Bellamy and Rogers combining well to make some nice chances on goal.
Northampton pushed onwards however, putting pressure on the City defence with only a superb Fassnidge goal line clearance denying a Northampton goal. In the 74th minute however, a Northampton clearance resulted in Bell finding herself through on goal and the striker slid the ball into the bottom corner to put Northampton 4-2 ahead.
The 79th minute saw Corazza replace Mitcham seeing the teenager make her competitive first team debut for the club. With Northampton still pushing forward in the 85th minute, Hine made an excellent set of saves to deny the hosts further goals. Despite being two goals down, City kept pushing until the end with Robinson putting a lovely ball through for Fassnidge and Sime attempting a nice long range effort.
Despite falling to defeat, City will take many positives from this trip on the road and look forward to their match at Cheltenham Town Women FC on Thursday 29th August.