8th August 2017
Last Sunday Cheltenham Town Ladies entertained Devon-based Buckland Athletic in their fourth pre-season friendly.
Buckland took the South West Women’s Football League by storm last season, winning the Western Division and going unbeaten. They completed the double by winning the Bristol Soccerworld League Cup.
Manager, Graham Fletcher started this game with a strong first half side skippered for the first time by Naomi Purvis. The Robins should have been two up within five minutes but found themselves a goal down at the quarter of an hour point. A well worked Buckland move, resulted in a good finish. Cheltenham equalised with a really well created goal, scored by exciting new signing Ellie Briscoe. Cheltenham then took the lead, when Buckland failed to clear the ball. A strong and determined Sally Butterfield, nipped in to score with a powerful finish. Buckland this time and at half time the teams were level at 2-2.
With several players on the bench the Cheltenham manager rang the changes in the second half, and this made their game slightly disjointed. Buckland took advantage scoring two goals from corners and despite creating some good chances, involving young striker Holly Rogers, the home side were not able to close the gap.
After the game, Manager Graham Fletcher, said: ‘I thought the 1st half we showed what a good side we are going to be. I was missing two or three of my first choice players, but we were good to watch, and we created some excellent chances. We have a few things to work on, but I’m pleased the way things are going, as we head towards our first league match on the 20th August.
“Buckland are a very good team, they have done really well, and they are a confident outfit. They are well drilled, and we were certainly a match for them, and I felt if we had shown a little more composure in the box, we would have been a couple of goals clear early on. I’m pleased with the way we are playing, we now have to do some fine tuning.’
We move on to our next game on Thursday, when we take on local rivals Cheltenham Civil Service, at Petersfield Park, 7:30pm Kick off
