A dominant display saw Andy Liddicott's Aldershot Town Ladies side comfortably win 4-1 over Crawley Wasps in their opening game of the 2009/2010 pre-season campaign, as Andy Liddicott and Matt Leary report.
The Shots last played the Wasps during the 2007/08 pre-season campaign, which resulted in a 2-1 win for the Shots, but was marred by an injury to Laura Funnell which kept her out for six months.
Liddicott was missing six of his regular players, which resulted in several trial players being given an opportunity to stake a place in the side.The Shots started nervously, and were soon pegged back inside their own half. In one move, Crawley caught the Shots out with barely three minutes on the clock, when a Wasps attacker found space from her marker and unleashed a shot from just outside the box, catching stand-in keeper Holly Gayler and ending up in the back of the Shots net.
This spurred the Shots on, and the midfield really started to take the game to their hosts. Sian Houghton [pictured top] and Stacey Ireland started to find space, the ever-energetic Tracy Marlow caused numerous problems whenever she got wide, as was newcomer Grace Irvine with a number of well-executed crosses.
Ten minutes in, and the Shots were level. Ireland received the ball outside the box, and spotted Jade Ferguson making space from her marker on the left hand side of the box. With a perfectly floated ball from Ireland, Ferguson took just one touch to control the ball before driving it past the Wasps keeper to level the game at one-a-piece.
Both sides were pressing hard, but the back four of Laura Funnell, Hannah Grover, captain Tara Coles and trialist Aime Budd were keeping the threat to a number of long-distance shots that were wide of the post.
Liddicott was missing six of his regular players, which resulted in several trial players being given an opportunity to stake a place in the side.The Shots started nervously, and were soon pegged back inside their own half. In one move, Crawley caught the Shots out with barely three minutes on the clock, when a Wasps attacker found space from her marker and unleashed a shot from just outside the box, catching stand-in keeper Holly Gayler and ending up in the back of the Shots net.
This spurred the Shots on, and the midfield really started to take the game to their hosts. Sian Houghton [pictured top] and Stacey Ireland started to find space, the ever-energetic Tracy Marlow caused numerous problems whenever she got wide, as was newcomer Grace Irvine with a number of well-executed crosses.
Ten minutes in, and the Shots were level. Ireland received the ball outside the box, and spotted Sian Ferguson making space from her marker on the left hand side of the box. With a perfectly floated ball from Ireland, Ferguson took just one touch to control the ball before driving it past the Wasps keeper to level the game at one-a-piece.
Both sides were pressing hard, but the back four of Laura Funnell, Hannah Grover, captain Tara Coles and trialist Aime Budd were keeping the threat to a number of long-distance shots that were wide of the post.
Another trialist in Gemma MacNeil later replaced Budd at right back. As the half-time whistle drew near, Marlow nearly caused the Wasps keeper a problem, as another perfect cross from Irvine found the striker on the edge of the box, who managed to get her head to the ball, only for it loop up and just skim the bar with the goalkeeper rapidly back-tracking.
HT: Crawley Wasps 1 Shots Ladies 1
Another trialist in Gemma MacNeil later replaced Budd at right back. As the half-time whistle drew near, Marlow nearly caused the Wasps keeper a problem, as another perfect cross from Irvine found the striker on the edge of the box, who managed to get her head to the ball, only for it loop up and just skim the bar with the goalkeeper rapidly back-tracking.
HT: Crawley Wasps 1 Shots Ladies 1
Following a few tweaks to the formation by Liddicott and coach Jamie Woodfield, the Shots took the game to Crawley, and started to lay siege on the Wasps goal area, only for the final ball going astray.On the hour mark, Holly Gayler was replaced by new 16-year-old goalkeeper Gemma Twine.
With 19 minutes to go, the Shots relentless pressure finally told. As the ball was moved quickly through the midfield, Houghton crossed the ball to Laura Wallman [pictured bottom], who controlled the ball, found space and fired into the corner of the net.
Crawley desperately tried to get back into the game, but the defence kept solid and the former Hampshire U16 keeper Twine gave the Wasps no chance in getting back into the game.
In the final ten minutes, the Shots did what they do best - showed the ability to give maximum performance right up until the final whistle. Ferguson had a spectacular shot on goal, only for the Wasps keeper and defence to deflect it skywards - where it dropped perfectly for Wallman to nod home from a few inches off the line.
Following a few tweaks to the formation by Liddicott and coach Jamie Woodfield, the Shots took the game to Crawley, and started to lay siege on the Wasps goal area, only for the final ball going astray.On the hour mark, Holly Gayler was replaced by new 16-year-old goalkeeper Gemma Twine.
With 19 minutes to go, the Shots relentless pressure finally told. As the ball was moved quickly through the midfield, Houghton crossed the ball to Laura Wallman [pictured bottom], who controlled the ball, found space and fired into the corner of the net.
Crawley desperately tried to get back into the game, but the defence kept solid and the former Hampshire U16 keeper Twine gave the Wasps no chance in getting back into the game.
In the final ten minutes, the Shots did what they do best - showed the ability to give maximum performance right up until the final whistle. Ferguson had a spectacular shot on goal, only for the Wasps keeper and defence to deflect it skywards - where it dropped perfectly for Wallman to nod home from a few inches off the line.
Four minutes to go, and the Shots made it game-set-match as Funnell and Irvine wove a superb exchange down the left hand side, Funnell carried on her run past the Crawley defence, crossed the ball to Ferguson who fired the ball at the keeper only for the ball to be parried into the path of Wallman to head the ball into the net to complete her hat-trick.
FT: Crawley Wasps 1 Shots Ladies 4
Line-Up: Holly Gayler (GK), Amie Budd, Tara Coles (C), Jade Ferguson, Laura Funnell, Hannah Grover, Sian Houghton, Stacey Ireland, Grace Irvine, Tracy Marlow, Laura Wallman
Subs: Gemma Twine (GK), Gemma MacNeil
Player of the Match: Sian Houghton
Andy's Analysis: "It's always nice to get that first game under the belt, after a good 5 weeks of training.
"The main thing to do was to look at our fitness and that was a good level. We really looked strong in the second half. Jamie has again put the girls through a tough couple of weeks of fitness and it showed today.
"All the trial players looked very comfortable today and fitted in nicely, credit goes to Gemma Twine who has taken a massive step up from junior football - she looked really comfortable when she got her chance today.
Four minutes to go, and the Shots made it game-set-match as Funnell and Irvine wove a superb exchange down the left hand side, Funnell carried on her run past the Crawley defence, crossed the ball to Ferguson who fired the ball at the keeper only for the ball to be parried into the path of Wallman to head the ball into the net to complete her hat-trick.
FT: Crawley Wasps 1 Shots Ladies 4
Line-Up: Holly Gayler (GK), Amie Budd, Tara Coles (C), Jade Ferguson, Laura Funnell, Hannah Grover, Sian Houghton, Stacey Ireland, Grace Irvine, Tracy Marlow, Laura Wallman
Subs: Gemma Twine (GK), Gemma MacNeil
Player of the Match: Sian Houghton
Andy's Analysis: "It's always nice to get that first game under the belt, after a good 5 weeks of training.
"The main thing to do was to look at our fitness and that was a good level. We really looked strong in the second half. Jamie has again put the girls through a tough couple of weeks of fitness and it showed today.
"All the trial players looked very comfortable today and fitted in nicely, credit goes to Gemma Twine who has taken a massive step up from junior football - she looked really comfortable when she got her chance today.
"Myself and Jamie took a lot from today's game and hopefully we'll put a few things into place before we take on Southern Premier League side Reading FC Ladies at Ash United next Sunday which will be a great test for the girls."
Next fixture: Reading Ladies FC on Sunday 9th August 2009, kick off at 2pm at Ash United. All welcome to attend.
All photographs provided with thanks to David Child