13th October 2017
Match Report by Ian Purvis with Additional reporting by Ria Salleh
Cheltenham Town Ladies travelled to Yate Town last night to face St Nicholas LFC in the FA WPL and came away with all the points in a game which saw the side produce a shining performance, give 17 year old Caty Stirling Lee a WPL debut and end three minutes early due to an electrical fire and floodlight failure.
Caretaker boss, chairman Andy Liddle made few changes to the team last time out but switched Sarah Walters to centre back, Ella Hitchcox wide left and Sally Butterfield to lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation.
The Ladies quickly settled into their passing game but it was Bec Panniers who was called into action first making a good stop on 11 minutes. However, after a handball on the St Nicks goal line skipper Jen Brown Wealls despatched her penalty to put the side 1-0 up.
The confidence that had been missing in previous games came flooding back and the Ladies produced some slick passing moves and doubled their lead in the 33rd minute when Louise Fensome put the ball into an empty net.
St Nicks relied on the counter attack as their main attacking ploy but the Cheltenham back four were resolute.
Half Time 2-0.
An injury to Ria Salleh led Andy Liddle to bring on Holly Kay at the break but this did not affect the pattern of play with Ella Hitchcox, Sally Butterfield (pictured) and Kayleigh Hateley all spurning good chances.
The Cheltenham team were now playing with good confidence and the passing and movement was the best seen this season.
On the 75th minute Sam Morris came on for Kayleigh Hately in midfield and as with the earlier change the player slotted in to her position superbly.
A minute later Louise Fensome sealed the victory with a 20 yard screamer, picking up a loose ball and sending a tremendous shot into the top right corner.
With 85 minutes on the clock Caty Stirling Lee was given her debut replacing the excellent Bec Panniers but this was cut short when with three minutes remaining the referee had to end the match due to a fire started by a floodlight failure.
Caretaker manager Andy Liddle said: “The bizarre ending to this match will of course grab all the headlines but it shouldn’t dim what was a truly superb performance by the team. From front to back we were outstanding.”
R Panniers (C Stirling Lee 85) , L Bull, N Purvis, S Walters, J Wiltshire, E Hitchcox, K Hateley (S Morris 75), L Fensome, J Brown Wealls, R Salleh (H Kay 46), S Butterfield.
