London & South East Regional Women's League Division One South
Fort Road, Newhaven
Admission: Free
Programme: None
Attendance: 50 (estimate)
So, after the announcement yesterday evening that the UK would return to a lockdown sufficiently deep to prevent spectators being able to attend "non-elite" football from Thursday (and probably, by extension, pause the season at those levels), I decided to plan watching games every day up until then. For today, there would be no mens games within comfortable range, and what was available was at grounds I had already visited, and so my attention turned to the women's game for the second successive Sunday. My first choice was a Women's FA Cup game between Eastbourne Town and Leyton Orient, but that was called off early in the morning morning due to a waterlogged pitch. Then, wanting to stay local, I had a choice between Eastbourne United and Newhaven, and as I had already visited The Oval twice this season, I made my way to Fort Road, for my first visit in just over a year, and my first time watching a ladies' game there.
There have been a couple of minor changes to Fort Road since my last visit. A small section of uncovered seating has been relocated and straddles the half way line opposite the main stand, and a couple of container type units just inside the entrance have been painted and have some club signage on. A small rowing boat was located just inside the entrance last time, but has since been removed. However, one thing remains unchanged in that the view from the top tier of the main stand is superb and unobstructed.
This game would be in the sixth tier of the women's game, and promised to be a tall order for Newhaven, who had won one and lost the other four of their five league games so far, whereas Herne Bay were top of the table, winning three and drawing the other of their four league games so far.
On an afternoon that started off as heavily overcast but with thick misty rain closing in during the second half, the hosts had a nightmare start, when the visitors intercepted the ball, and Lauren Harris ran forward before slotting the ball past the keeper. And it really was all Herne Bay during the first half and they really should have increased their lead before half time - the stand out chances coming on 19 minutes, when an attempted defensive clearance by a Newhaven defender ricocheted to a Herne Bay player in front of goal, but her shot was well blocked by a covering defender, and on 41 minutes, a Newhaven defender just failed to intercept an aerial diagonal ball forward, but she managed to track back in time to block the eventual shot on goal.
The second half saw a much improved showing by Newhaven, who came out and really tried to take the game to the visitors, creating some decent attacking moves. On 50 minutes, a one-on-one ended with a shot quite comfortably caught by the keeper, and on 56 minutes, a corner was played in, rebounded up off the back of a Newhaven forward and a stretched shot looped up and came hit the post. But on 63 minutes, Herne Bay scored a second, after an initial shot came back off the bar, and the rebound was tapped home by Lauren Williams. And the visitors came close to sealing the three points when a low cross across the box just evaded a tap in. Then, Newhaven created some really good chances - on 72 minutes, a Newhaven player just won the race with the keeper to the ball wide of the penalty area, and the ball was crossed into the box, but a Herne Bay player got back just in time to clear the ball in front of an open goal. Four minutes later, the ball was drilled across goal and just evaded a far post tap in, and on 84 minutes, a poked shot forced a save at full stretch by the Herne Bay keeper. A terrific passage of skill by a Herne Bay forward almost scored a third for her team, showing real twinkle toes in the past to side step her way past defenders in the penalty area, but her eventual shot hit the outside of the post. In the first minute of added on time, Newhaven finally did get the goal they certainly deserved, after a Herne Bay goalkick was intercepted, played back into the box and the ball was struck past the keeper by Paige Ripley. That gave real hope to Newhaven that they could yet claim a point, but there just wasn't time in the end, and they will probably feel slightly unlucky to lose the game, doing well to come back from conceding in the first minute against the league leaders with a performance full of heart and desire.
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