Southampton Ladies 1 - 1 Aldershot Town Ladies

Last updated : 20 January 2008 By Stray Shots Team

The two sides had met earlier in the season at Farnborough Gate, where the Shots had a comfortable 5-nil win.

The weather conditions at Southampton were not the best and the pitch was very wet.

From the off the Shots found it hard to string any passes together, their first touch was letting them down and they were over-hitting their passes. The first surprise came on 14 minutes when Southampton won a free kick just outside the penalty box. Grover was cautioned for her protestations towards the referee over the free kick.

The free kick was taken, North tried to clear it, but sliced on contact and the ball looped into the top corner off the net. 1-0. Both sides didn't really create any clear cut chances in the first 20 minutes, with the ball being stuck in the midfield area.

Southampton had the first chance when a long ball was sent over the top off the Shots defence, but Calder was on hand to clear from outside her area.

With Shots still struggling with the conditions and Southampton getting bodies behind the ball, there were no real chances made. Shots won their first corner on 32 minutes. Giberson swung the ball into the back post where north headed onto the underside off the bar and the ball was cleared to safety.

In the second half, the Shots started to push onto the Southampton goal and fired in a number of efforts, which came close. By this time, the pitch had become a mud heap and the long ball was coming into play more and more. Caz Shepherd also made her way into the referee's notebook for dissent on 50 minutes.

The changing point during the second half came a quarter-hour later, when Grover won a 50-50 ball, but due to the condition of the pitch, could not stop herself from sliding into the Southampton player. The referee awarded a free kick to the frustration of the defender. Her frustrations obviously caused grievances towards the referee as he issued the yellow card for the second time to Hannah, followed by a red card, reducing the Shots to 10. The Saints pressed for a second, and with a striker clear on goal, Calder ran to clear it, only to for a foul to have been adjudged on the Southampton player, with the keeper picking up her career-first caution.

The Shots pressure continued, and two minutes into stoppage time, Hann won a corner and swung the ball into the area. The ball pinged around the goalmouth until Caz Shepherd poked the ball into the net 1-1, causing unconfined celebrations along the Aldershot touchline.

However it still wasn't over as seconds after the restart, Caz Shepherd went to tackle for the ball, but mis-timed her tackle, with the referee brandishing yellow for the fifth time during the game, Shepherd's second, followed by another red card. By this time the game had become a bit of a farce.

A Southampton player was then cautioned for time wasting, as she carried on following an offside decision. Another Southampton player considered herself lucky to remain on the pitch after lashing out at Smith in the closing moments in front of the linesman, but only receiving a talking-to from the referee.

Player of the Match goes to Caz Shepherd

Andy's Analysis

"It's easy to blame the Referee who had a poor game, but we also let ourselves down. We never got going and found it hard to get our passing game going in the muddy conditions. We have leant this season to be patient and even down to nine players, we kept pressing. I was glad to come away with a point, when I was hoping for three. We will re group and get our preparation right for our league game at home against the league leaders Riverside Strikers."

Team

Calder, Giberson, Grover, McDonald, Hargreaves, D Shepherd, C Shepherd, Hann, Wallman, North, Smith

Subs Used

Meredith, Funnell, Smith

GOALS

Caz Shepherd 90"+2

Cautions

Grover 12" Dissent

C Shepherd 50" Dissent

Calder 85" Foul

Dismissals

Grover 65" Second caution (Dissent)

C Shepherd 90"+3 Second caution (Foul)