Winscombe 1 Ashmoor 5 - THIS proved to be a difficult game for Winscombe Ladies mainly due to the physical strength of their opponents.

Winscombe 1

Ashmoor 5

THIS proved to be a difficult game for Winscombe Ladies mainly due to the physical strength of their opponents.

Winscombe were slower to start and this led to Ashmoor scoring twice within a few minutes. Charlie Edwards and Vicky Bird never gave up and kept fighting for the ball to push Winscombe forward.

Amy Izzard and Holly Freemantle worked hard tracking back and forward, helping the defence when needed and then helped the forwards when attacking. Ashmoor applied great skills breaking through the centre of the pitch from their own half in many of their goals. By half time the score was 3-0 and Winscombe were shattered by the fitness level of the opposition.

So in the second half Winscombe knew they had to step up their game, Chloe Brown worked hard up the right and created lots of space to push forward. Kelly Clarke closed down the attacking players extremely well, winning in the centre but the level of skill displayed by the opposition was always going to overwhelm a much younger Winscombe side.

Their assertive manner in the first half overwhelmed the Winscombe team, but due to persistent effort and hard work by all the Winscombe ladies a fantastic pass from Fran Taylor led to a consolation goal scored by Kate Burdge in the second half.

New players are most welcome to come along to training, keepers or aspiring keepers are particularly welcome. The first two training sessions are tasters and are free of charge.

For further details please contact Gail Izzard on 07981 550 488 or email:

gail.izzard@jaguar5.demon.co.uk

Qualified umpires in need of additional matches or budding umpires wanting to try their hand at umpiring are also invited to contact the club. Again contact Gail Izzard.

Winscombe 2nds 3

Burnham 4

WINSCOMBE knew from the start that this could be a tough game. Without their regular goalkeeper, it fell to Sharron Morris to provide cover and although they were 3-0 down at half time, Morris found her feet to make some good clearances in her debut performance.

After the break, Winscombe came out with all guns blazing and took the game to Burnham. The back line of Nicky Mills, Jo Hann and Jodie Honour worked hard to keep their goalkeeper protected and the Burnham forwards could not break through.

The midfield team of Gail Izzard, Liz McConnell, Jo Elliot and Hannah Folkes supplied the forward line with some fantastic through balls, from which Becky Matthews converting her first in style.

Winscombe found their confidence with this strike and upped pressure on the Burnham back line, with Matthews slotting home her second through a pin-point cross from Trudie Lynham. The forward line did not stop pushing and with 10 minutes to go, Ella Horwood latched on to the end of Matthews' strike, to level the scores.

Burnham fought back and in the dying minutes converted a rare chance to win the game. Although a disappointing result for Winscombe, this was much improved on last week's performance and they will be looking to take this into Saturday's game against Weston Ladies 2nds at Priory School. Player of the match was Becky Matthews.

Weston 2nds 0

ECVH 2nds 5

WESTON started their second game in Sedgemoor Division 2 in a positive frame of mind despite a 5-0 defeat away at against ISCA Dragons at Exeter in the previous week.

Weston were missing regular defenders Shirley Cook, Shelly Parkins and Abi Smith, but welcomed back Charlotte Gordon who had a fantastic game resulting in her well deserved award of player of the match.

Gill Rylands and Jo Sawtell were the other newcomers in defence and both put in outstanding performances. Sawtell deserves a particular mention for playing outfield instead of her normal goalkeeper position, closely marking her player and defending well.

Lauren Sims played well up front with some fast runs down the wing. She was well supported by an active midfield, who communicated well and used the speed of the ball to travel up the pitch.

The first half was fairly evenly matched and Weston were unlucky to go one- nil down before half time when the ball bounced unevenly over the keeper and past the defender on the line.

Unfortunately, Weston did not start the second half in the same spirit, allowing ECVH to come at them straight from the whistle. Weston recovered quickly resulting in some good passages of play down the middle of the pitch, but the quality of the opposition did not allow Weston to progress further within the attacking circle.

ECVH took advantage when play broke down and passed the ball strongly from one end of the pitch to the other to finish the passage of play with a goal.

Fitness also played a part in the game when the midfield were unable to get back to defend, resulting in the attackers having an overlap which they used effectively. Rachel made some exceptional saves in one-on-one situations.

Weston 2nds have now lost both of their league games with the same result. The squad will be back to full strength and now need to work on their fitness in order to come back stronger for their game against local rivals Winscombe 2nds on October 17.