Lancaster 1 vs Neston 1

Lancaster 1s     2-2        Neston 1s

Lancaster welcomed top of the league Neston 1s on Saturday and were hoping for a more exciting match than the England v USA match the night before.

Lancaster attacked from the start taking Neston by surprise. Ali Standeven-Johns found herself in a 1v1 against the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper attempted to smother the ball but Ali calmly took it around to the right-hand side of the D and fired it into the left-hand corner of the goal.

Neston came back at Lancaster and were denied the equaliser with a save off the line by goalkeeper Leighan Bleasdale. The Lancaster defence solidly defended a number of short corners but a cross into the D took an unfortunate deflection for the Neston forward to score an equaliser.

Once Neston levelled the match, Lancaster found themselves with a player down for 10 minutes due to a yellow card but Neston could not break the defensive line of Cath Foy, Nina Helme, Ella Bookless and Zoe Oswald.

When Lancaster were back to 11, Nicola Conway distributed the ball brilliantly from the middle of the pitch. Ali Standeven-Johns found herself in the D about to shoot at goal but was fouled. The umpire waved play on but there was no advantage to be taken and a penalty stroke was awarded. Standeven-Johns calmly scored her second making it 2-1 at half time.

Into the second half Lancaster continued to work hard against a team that were relegated from National League the season before. A momentary lapse in tight defending gave Neston a gap and they levelled again with a back post tap in with 20 minutes to go.

Despite the equaliser Lancaster continued to work the ball forward forcing a number of saves from the goalkeeper. Neston themselves had a flurry of shots and penalty corners but Bleasdale was alert to the danger.

With 5 minutes to go Neston sat back and decided to half court press urging Lancaster to force the ball and lose possession but Jayde Christeansen was not playing any mind games and kept the ball in the defence and transferred the ball around the back until the final whistle was blown. Lancaster have earned 4 points in their last two matches against the top 2 teams and hope to continue their recent form against Kendal next week.

Team: Leighan Bleasdale (GK) (C), Nina Helme, Zoe Oswald, Nicola Conway, Hayley Standeven-Johns, Ella Bookless, Ali Standeven-Johns, Cath Foy, Holly Farquharson, Jayde Christeansen, Julie Walker and Katie Oliver

Goal Scorers: Ali Standeven-Johns x2

Player of the Match: Ali Standeven-John

Match Sponsor: Kathleen Bousfield

Team Sponsor: Sue Bridges Estate and Letting Agents