Lancaster 2 vs Preston 2

Preston 2s         2-1        Lancaster 2s

This weekend Lancaster 2s travelled to Preston, in what turned out to be more physical than a local derby! Preston started the better of the two teams and were quick to press Lancaster. Lancaster absorbed the pressure however and found themselves counter attacking on a number of occasions with Jess Dawson and Emily Verden finding themselves in space with the ball free to run at the Preston goal.

Despite Lancaster’s perseverance Preston earned a flurry of short corners and a well worked routine flew in over the outstretched Lancaster goalkeeper, giving Preston the lead. Lancaster were not deterred by this, Libby Thwaites and Lauren Allwood drove Lancaster down the right hand side with some great one two passing around the Preston players. The pressure from Lancaster paid off as the initial Lancaster shot was saved, however, the ball fell kindly to Susie Crayton who smashed it towards the goal only for a defender to stick their stick out and deflect the ball the opposite way to the diving goalkeeper, only to hear the ball hit the back board confirming a Lancaster equaliser.

Preston pushed again for the lead, they tried to go down Lancaster’s right, however, Libby Thwaites and Molly Chapman were equal to their attempts and kept them at bay. With their attempts not working, Preston sought to go down the Lancaster left side. Amelia Welch, Abi Watson and Kiera Langley were determined to not let them past. In the last seconds of the second half, Preston were quick to set up catching Lancaster sleeping, they took a quick free hit before crossing the ball into the D and firing the ball past the Lancaster goalkeeper who dived but was unable to reach the perfectly placed shot.

The half time team talk seemed to spur Lancaster on and they earned a number of short corners which they saw saved by the goalkeeper. Preston were quick to counter attack Lancaster and the defence of Frances Archer, Zoe Oswald and Emma Wood found themselves on a number of occasions making tackles to stop them getting through. The game became stretched with both teams pushing for a goal, resulting in a number of counter attacks taking place for both teams. When Preston did somehow get through the Lancaster defence goalkeeper Rebecca Halliwell was equal to everything Preston threw at her, saving shot after shot and even coming out victorious on a one-on-one situation where she forced the Preston player to shoot wide.

The game ended Preston 2 v 1 Lancaster, the result was not a true representation of the game as Lancaster felt they deserved at least a draw given the team performance.

Team: Rebecca Halliwell (GK) (C), Frances Archer, Zoe Oswald, Molly Chapman, Kiera Langley, Amelia Welch, Emma Wood, Libby Thwaites, Lauren Allwood, Jess Dawson, Susie Crayton, Emily Verden and Abi Watson.

Goal Scorer: Susie Crayton

Player of the Match: Rebecca Halliwell

Match Sponsor: Royal Nails by Jayde