26th October 2020
Poole Town Ladies 0
CTLFC 5
Goalscorers:
Poole:
Cheltenham: Kayll 4′, Grove 18′, 41′, Criddle 57′, Bevan 76′
Cheltenham Town Ladies put on a 5-star showing on the road to Dorset, coming away with all three points courtesy of a goalfest involving four scorers.
The Robinesses started confidently, making sure most of the early moments were focused in the Poole half. The early pressure paid off, as some slick passing put Haynes through on the left. Haynes delivered a wonderful low ball which found Lauren Kayll (pictured) storming into the box, with the right winger tucking her finish underneath Chrippes in the Poole goal to open her account for the season and bag her first ever Cheltenham Town Ladies goal.
Poole would be spurred on by the early setback, looking to play forward, but could only thread a pass to Levett in the Cheltenham goal.
The teams would trade possession in midfield before Cheltenham encouraged the home side’s pressure with passing deep in their own half, before they were able to turn the tables with an attack orchestrated by Grove and Haynes.
After a couple of corner kicks, including one that would see Kayll hammer a free-header straight to Chrippes, Cheltenham would push again, this time with Haynes sidestepping her marker. The left winger was unable to take advantage of the opening, as she dragged her shot wide of the far post.
Less than a minute later, Cheltenham would double their lead. A ball forward to Grove would see the powerful striker race into a good position and pummel a low drive past the onrushing goalkeeper, despite vocal appeals for an offside by the home following.
Cheltenham pressed for a third moments later but were thwarted by the offside flag. They would dispossess Poole in the midfield and recycle from the back, with Butler and Lambe on hand to dictate the pace of the game from deep.
With the passing game in full effect, Cheltenham kept their drive for a third but the Dolphins’ defence stood firm. They were given a breather when Kayll was adjudged to have fouled her marker.
From the free-kick Poole would secure their first corner of the game, but the conditions took the opportunity away, a big gust sending the ball out for a goalkick.
Courtney Jones would enter the game on the 32nd minute mark, replacing Lambe at left-back. Some inaccurate passing saw Poole gifted a chance, only for the fizzing shot to strike the post and fly out for a goalkick.
Continuing to push the button, Cheltenham would secure another corner on the right wing. Criddle able to find powerhouse Criddle in the area, but the midfielder’s header soared past the near post in what would have been a fantastic finish.
Following the kick out, Cheltenham would supply Grove again, who was able to step her defender and launch a missile from distance. Chrippes in the Poole goal was able to get a strong hand to it and looked to have tipped it over, only for the ball to strike the crossbar and crossed the whitewash after deflecting in off the upright.
Minutes later the goalscorer would receive a booking after a coming together in the midfield with her marker. Despite pleading her case that it was an equal tussle, the referee raised the yellow as things heated up approaching the break.
Cheltenham pushed forward after stemming the home side’s attack following the free-kick. In what would be the half’s final act, Hood would give chase to the forward ball, with the defender playing the ball off her to win a throw.
HALF TIME: Poole 0-3 CTLFC
Rejuvenated by the half time break, the Dolphins’ would be the first to roll the dice. A searching ball forward opened up a chance for the winger to run, but Jones and Butler were on hand to shepherd the ball out for a Levett goalkick.
Cheltenham’s first attack saw Grove’s shot charged down by an outstretched leg. Poole would hammer the ball clear, looking to create an attack on the counter, but Halford would shut the door by returning the ball to Kayll via a stunning diagonal pass. The offside flag ended the visitor’s chances as Kayll was caught on the wrong side of her fullback marker.
Charlotte Criddle would extend her run of form from dead-ball situations.
After winning a free-kick on the left, Cheltenham looked to put bodies in the danger zone. Criddle stepped up, aiming for the near post and managed to outfox Chrippes with a shot that bounced directly into the scrambling goalkeeper.
Poole looked to close the gap and get a foothold back in the game, calling Butler into action to close the door before Cheltenham would return the ball to the Poole third, forcing a corner kick. Criddle’s ball in pinballed in the box before Haynes flashed a shot wide.
Ruby Scahill made her entrance as Jess Hood headed to the box, with Sophie Griffiths also joining in to make her debut at the expense of Lauren Kayll. It didn’t take long for the winger to make an impact as she combined with Hallsworth and Bevan numerous times to help Cheltenham going forward.
Griffiths would play Bevan into space on the right, with the midfielder putting in a threatening cross. Scahill’s first time shot demanding a good reaction save from Chrippes.
Shortly after Bevan would slip through again, receiving a well weighted pass and unleashing a spectacular drive just past the reaches of the Poole goalkeeper to make it five for the visitors. This being her fourth goal on the bounce against Poole Town Ladies in all competitions.
With ten minutes left on the clock, the game would pause temporarily to an injury to a Poole player. Following the restart, Cheltenham would push forward again. Some good work from Griffiths and Bevan would see Scahill turn inside the box before receiving a wild challenge. Despite appeals for a penalty, the referee was not interested in pointing to the spot.
Cheltenham would have a couple of late chances, starting with a corner kick, with the ball again bobbling around the area with Poole unable to clear. With Grove looking to make space for herself, a handball judgement would see the momentum halt.
Grove and Bevan would work together to fashion a final opportunity, with Chrippes on hand to make a simple claim. The final whistle would sound seconds after her long kick.
Cheltenham: R. Levett, S. Hallsworth, M. Butler, R. Halford, H. Lambe (Jones 32), C. Criddle, A. Bevan, J. Hood (Scahill 66), Kayll (Griffiths 66), Haynes, Grove.
REACTION
After the final whistle, manager Tom Davies was understandably delighted with the final result.
“We’ve built in the right way, like I said last week, it’s important that we used last week’s game as a stepping stone and we’ve done that today so we’ve built in the right areas. There’s times where we’ve made some decisions that we need to focus on and develop and that’s part of the building process. But, we’re happy that we’ve taken maximum points and we’ve kept another cleansheet which is important to us. We’ve played in a good way and we’ve had opportunity to use players in good areas and change things as well.
[On Sophie Griffiths’ debut] “That’s what the purpose for the Development Team is. We want players to be in there and get minutes and then come in and challenge for places, so that process is important and we want to make sure we develop that process as much as we can. In terms of the rest, we’ve got pretty much everyone available next week and we came with a smaller squad today knowing that this is a long way to travel and we didn’t want people to come and not get any minutes. We’ve got everyone back in and everyone is firing, bar maybe one or two.
“This result has an impact, like I said, that we’re stepping in the right direction. It doesn’t mean we’re going to get carried away, just like we didn’t get carried away after the Larkhall game or Maidenhead game, where we’ve had negative results or results where we’re not happy with, we’re not going to get carried away on positive results. We know that each performance we need to improve and it becomes a stepping stone and we keep progressing and keep moving and if we get positive results while we do that, then even better, if we get negative results then it’s about making sure we refine the right way. But we’ll reflect as we always do and we’ll look to improve and look to move forward. Next week is our only target now and we won’t look any further than that and that’s every week with regards to opposition or whatever is happening.”
