The opening game to the league campaign was marred by a bad injury to youngster Sophie Fogarty five minutes from time, which led to the match having to be abandoned early.
Sophie suffered a knee injury and needs further scans to understand the full extend of the damage, but it’s clear she will be out of action for some time. It’s a huge loss for the side and a massive shame for Sophie, after breaking onto the scene so emphatically last season.
As for the match, this was never a four-nil, despite Keynsham Town being the better side on the day on the whole. We started brightly, played some decent football and almost had our noses in front when Beth Curtis hit a spectacular volley from outside the penalty box towards the right that came back into play off the inside of the post.
Then we had a clear penalty shout when Sophie was bundled over as she broke into the box by the Keynsham captain. I thought it was a nailed on penalty myself, considering the defender never went for the ball, but the referee waved play on.
Keynsham then responded themselves and where our luck wasn’t in, theirs was. We conceded a soft free-kick in the middle of the park and didn’t react fast enough as the possession quickly changed over and a through ball played into the path of their striker, just inside and wide right of the box saw us in trouble.
The striker still had plenty of work to do, but finished with real aplomb and her low drive struck the inside of the far post, but rather than come back out like ours, the ball nestled into the back of the next and we were 1-0 down.
I still thought it was anybody’s game at this point and we pushed forward for an equaliser with plenty of decent attacks, which included another penalty claim when Beth Liles was bundled over in the penalty area. I really felt Kenysham couldn’t have argued if either were given and we came away bitterly disappointed to get neither.
Sophie also turned a half-chance into a good effort when she flashed a strike just wide of the post, which the majority of us all thought was heading in. But while the momentum was growing for us, a moment of madness and later fortune, saw the visitors double their lead.
A ball into the box was punched clear by Claire Farrow, but a deft chip from one of the Keynsham players had her beaten and Melanie Bidewell scrambled back in an attempt to clear the ball, but clearly handled it before it crossed the line and went in.
Despite the referee’s assistant flagging for a clear handball on the line, the referee decided to overrule and awarded the goal. As a consequence, Melanie could consider herself extremely lucky to have get away with just a yellow card and we went into the break two goals down.
We still felt we had a chance to get back into the game, but we needed to score the next goal. In the second-half, we wanted to get at them again and apply pressure, but we conceded two sloppy goals and the game was over, despite creating plenty of dangerous moments that we failed to capitalise on.
We also looked a little bit tired as the game wore on, which was a shame, but some of the players are still short of minutes on the pitch and it showed as we went through the motions for periods during the second-half.
Kenysham could have added to their lead when we were leg wary, but that would have been unfair in the context of the match. We still had Claire to thank for one or two excellent saves in near point blank or one-on-one situations though.
Then, with five minutes from time, Sophie picked up a serious knee injury when attempting to clear a ball completely unchallenged, which was the result of the blades from her boot’s standing leg getting caught in the turf. Both sets of players rushed to her aid in visible distress and after 20-30 minutes of treatment and ambulance attention, the referee decided to call a halt to proceedings with the result standing. Kenysham themselves were no strangers to injury and had two players retire from the match with their arms in slings.
Reflecting on the match, I was pleased with many elements of our first-half performance, but what we lacked was a little bit of fitness and time on the pitch together as well as the composure needed in the final third to make the right decision to unlock the opposition’s defence and give us the best chance of scoring.
Had we got at least one of those penalty decisions, it may have been a very different outcome or inspired us to really go after getting a result or something from the game. In the end we lost to a good side, who have plenty of decent players including some international players and we never looked out of place at all. Their finishing was also superior on the day and the strikers deserve credit for the way they took their chances when they came.
We also need to do some work on our defensive positioning, because we made life a little more difficult for ourselves than we needed to at times. It just boiled down to not picking the best positions to start from and to make the opposition play in the direction you want them to, but these are all issues that can be solved and ironed out.
So we were not far away here, despite the score and the players need to dust themselves down and get on with it. On this evidence, they can only grow stronger and player better and we still had several players out of action, due to injuries and who are not quite ready to return to the first-team yet. When they do, we’ll be in a much healthier state in terms of strength in depth.
I’m really gutted for Sophie, but she’s young enough to make a full recovery and we have our fingers and toes crossed for her for when she has her scans. It’s important that she has the support of her friends and family as well as her teammates and that she remains disciplined for any rehabilitation work she needs to carry out before returning. She’s a sensational player and this won’t stop her from reaching the dizzy heights she’s capable of achieving.
As for the rest of the players, I was pleased to see Elly Maggs continuing her comeback from a serious knee injury last season and I was impressed with Beth Liles’ tactical awareness on the pitch too. Then we have the likes of Vanessa Nicholson and Hayley Blake who were both playing Third team football last season and have been thrown in at the deep end to cover for some of our other absences. The experience they’re gaining from this will only help develop them further as players, so there’s still a lot to be pleased and positive about.
Team: Claire Farrow, Sarah Walters, Hayley Blake, Melanie Bidewell, Tammy Scrivens, Vanessa Nicholson (Natalie), Beth Liles, Simone Dwyer, Elly Maggs, Beth Curtis & Sophie Fogarty
Subs: Becky (GK) and Natalie
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