26th August 2018
Cheltenham Town Ladies 5-1 Maidenhead Ladies _ Match Report by Bobby Vincent UoG Sports Journalist
Cheltenham Town Ladies’ ruthless second-half performance sees them ease past Maidenhead as Annie Martin secures back-to-back hat-tricks.
A wet and rainy DN Fire Stadium couldn’t dampen the spirit of Cheltenham Town, as they put in a fine second-half performance to beat Maidenhead 5-1.
The home side started the better of the two sides with some early pressure in difficult conditions.
There was an early injury for Cheltenham, when a clash of heads forced Chloe Rogers to be substituted and replaced by Sam Morris.
The pressure was made to count about half an hour in, when a deadly delivery was put in by the captain, Sarah Walters and was met by the head of the substitute Morris, who left the Maidenhead goalkeeper stranded.
Maidenhead responded excellently and equalised just two minutes later, as Sophie Modak’s free-kick wasn’t dealt with by Hannah Bingham and it bounced over her head.
The hosts were struggling to cope with the conditions in the first-half and definitely didn’t produce what they were capable of.
The second-half, the rain stopped and the football properly started for Cheltenham, with another devastating cross from Walters was headed in by Ella Hitchcox (pictured) – topping off a magnificent team move.
Cheltenham looked a different side in the second-half and Annie Martin took the game away from Maidenhead with a great strike from outside the box.
Town were in cruise mode now and were playing some splendid football, and Martin grabbed her second and Cheltenham’s fourth when Hitchcox’s shot was parried to the striker, who tapped the ball in.
Martin completed a hat-trick when she rounded the ‘keeper and slid the ball into the empty net and round off a five-star second-half performance from the hosts.
Cheltenham’s manager Alex Cheal admitted that he was far from happy with his side’s first-half performance.
“I wasn’t happy, that’s for sure,” Cheal said. “I just asked them to up their levels, to be honest. They were slow first-half. They were giving them too much time.
“They recognised it, though – I didn’t need to say too much! They answered everything I wanted them to, and the response was fantastic.”
Rogers’ injury in the first-half looked a serious one and Cheal revealed that he is unsure about the extent of the injury.
“We’re not sure (how she is), we sent her off for an MRI scan,” Cheal explained. “She’s just come back from a long-term injury, so we were trying to protect her as much as possible. But the answer is that we don’t know yet.”
Team:
Bingham, Purvis, Dolloway, Rogers (Morris), Walters, Briscoe, Wyatt (Hateley), French (Ellis), Wilkins, Martin, Hitchcox. Subs unused: Leask, Norman.
