27th November 2017
Cheltenham Town Ladies secured a well deserved 1-0 victory over Larkhall Athletic at Petersfield Park after Holly Rogers (pictured) struck the winner in the dying stages of the match. However, the victory was marred by an injury to Holly who suffered a broken leg.
The Ladies started the game positively after last week’s triumph at Whaddon Road and controlled play in large parts but spurned a number of chances to open the scoring. Alana Taylor, promoted from the Development side, was particularly impressive making a number of bursting runs while Louse Fensome carved open several chances for herself and her striking partners Ella Hitchcox and Sally Butterfield.
In fact, a 3-0 half time scoreline would not have been flattering such was their dominance.
The second half continued in much the same vein with Cheltenham profligate in front of goal. While the back four of Walters, Morris, Wiltshire and Purvis, the latter making her 50th appearance for the club, snuffed out any Larkhall danger.
With the game petering out manager Andy Liddle brought on 17 year old Holly Rogers for Sally Butterfield and her direct approach paid dividends almost immediately. Picking up the ball on the left hand side she ran at the Larkhall defence before arrowing a superb strike into the bottom corner.
However, less than five minutes later she went down badly in a 50/50 challenge and had to be stretchered off.
Cheltenham then saw out the final moments of the game to record only their third League win of the season and their first over Larkhall for three seasons.
Andy Liddle commented after the match: “This was a true team performance with everyone making a huge contribution but unlike last week Bec Panniers was the quietest player on the field with almost nothing to warm her hands. Our goalscorer Holly Rogers is a tremendous young prospect and we hope she can recover quickly.”
“This is a special day in the history of Cheltenham Town Ladies football with all six teams from under 10s upwards winning their matches.”
Attendance: 36
Panners, Purvis, Morris, Walters, Wiltshire, Brown-Wealls, Berry, Fensome, Hitchcox, Taylor (Kay), Butterfield (Rogers/Briscoe)
