Aldershot Ladies 1 - 3 Henley Town Ladies

The game started at a high tempo and neither side really created a chance in the opening 10 minutes. Both sides where soaking up the pressure well. Henley had the first chance, but Calder dealt with the shot well. At the other end, the Shots build-up play was good, but could not seem to get bodies in the box.

Henley won a corner on 28 minutes, the Shots where caught out by a quickly taken corner, which was sent into the near post. The ball was blocked, but found a Henley player to fire home to make it 0-1.

The Shots tried to get their passing game going, but it was coming in patches.

On 37 minutes, the Shots got back into the game. The ball was played down the left-hand side, where it found the tireless-working Caz Shepherd on the touchline. The ex-Woking player crossed the ball into the area, but it missed absolutely everyone and sailed past the hapless keeper into the back of the net. 1-1

Each side kept probing, but never side could finish off their moves.

In the second half, Henley took the lead once more on the hour mark, when the Shots didn't clear their lines, and after an initial shot hit the crossbar, ex-Shot Lou Lloyd bundled into Kath Giberson, bundling her and the ball into the back of the net. After the Shots appealed frantically for the foul, the referee, with no clear view, consulted assistant Matthew Leary on the touchline, who failed to see the foul, and the goal was awarded to the dismay of the home team.

The Shots continued to press, but the Henley defence snuffed out any chances. The Shots again didn't clear their lines, and on 77 minutes Henley scored a third.

The Shots had a chance to reduce the deficit near the end, as North was tripped in the box and the referee pointed to the spot without hesitation. After consultation over an off-the-ball incident with the assistant, Grover took the resulting kick but watched as her shot sailed wide of the goalkeeper's right post.

"After a great result the week before at Riverside, we came down with a big bump in the league this week. It was very disappointing to lose at home and we haven't won at home since Christmas and it is starting to concern me. With this result, we have been dragged into the bottom half of the table and we need to start to pick points up soon, or we will be scrapping for every single point. We haven't been consistent and we need to address this."
Andy Liddicott

"After knocking the league leaders out of the cup last week with a superb performance the girls were on a high and full of confidence going into this game, although we knew we would have to work hard for it with Henley being a good passing team. We started the match very slowly and let Henley get into their stride and before long they were 1-0 up, but with some tough tackling and by adding some pressure to Henley's back line, we managed to even things out and went in at half time at a respectable 1-1. We came out for the second half but just didn't seem to have the urgency or the fight that we had in abundance just the week before. A couple of mistakes and a strongly contested second goal for Henley was enough to start the bickering amongst us, which caused our heads to drop. We managed to win a penalty but with Hannah having to wait an eternity for the ref to sort himself out, she put the ball just wide. Henley then went on to score a third and put the game beyond us. I do not know what happened to the team that played at Riverside last week but they certainly didn't turn up on Sunday. It was a disappointing performance, which will need to be corrected if we are to reach our target of matching last season's league position."
Emma North (Captain)

Squad

Player of the Match goes to Di Smith