21st November 2017
Match Report – Cheltenham Development vs Abbeymead Rover Ladies
The early exchanges were very even and chances were hard to come by in this County Cup encounter.
The stalemate was almost broken on the 15 minute mark when Abbeymead broke on the right cut in and rattled the post with a fine effort. It was Abbeymead to the fore again after 20 Minutes and it took a fine save from Caty Sterling Lee (pictured) to keep the score at 0-0.
The first half concluded with the score still at 0-0 in an absorbing encounter on another sparkling Autumn day.
The deadlock was finally broken on 60 Minutes with a great driving run from Reilly, and snap shot which produced a great goal – 1-0 Cheltenham.
As has happened so many times in the last few weeks Cheltenham were pegged back almost immediately when a speculative shot deceived the Cheltenham keeper to make it 1-1. Both teams visibly tired in the last 10 minutes and the dreaded penalty shootout loomed.
There were notable performances from Summer Rankin making her debut for the senior side, Lydia Amarquaye in defence, Catherine Reilly up front, Alana Taylor, Abbi Barker and Lauren Cable.
Both sides will largely want to forget the shootout with more misses than hits!
Cheltenham Keeper Caty Sterling Lee saved a number of the Abbeymead penalties and the Cheltenham players who held their nerve and took Cheltenham through were:
Catherine Riley
Lauren Cable
Rebecca Harris and
Emma Canham
At the end of the day getting through the round was all that counted and Cheltenham were relieved to progress after a real test of character.
Squad: C Reilly (C), C Sterling Lee, L Markovic, L Amarquaye, S Rankin, A Barker, B Harris, E Canham, A Taylor, A Jones, H Kay, O Kosylowicz, L Cable
