East Anglian Counties Championship match
Tuesday 26th February ~ at Fakenham Town FC
The Suffolk Ladies team lost their first match for 18 months – a sequence of 9 wins came to an end. On a windy evening at Fakenham, this match took time to warm up the spectators. Suffolk had the first shot at goal after 12 minutes when a speculative effort from Everett did not trouble Fletcher in the home goal. 10 minutes later, skilful play from Parnell to evade 2 opponents and cut back from the goal line to set up Everett, but keeper Fletcher did well in bravely diving at the feet of the striker to block her effort. Despite these isolated efforts, however, it was the home team which had established control of the midfield – they were quicker to the ball, quicker to close down their opponents in the middle of the pitch and denied them space and time on the ball.
After 25 minutes, they took a deserved lead from a penalty, awarded for a trip on a forward, and Smythe confidently smashed the ball into the roof of the net. Shortly after this, Bray missed a golden chance to increase the lead when she failed to make good contact with a cross from Lewin, and her shot went wide. On the half-hour, Warnes did well for the visitors to hold off defenders, turned but shot over the bar.
In the 36th minute, Suffolk goalie Lunn pulled off a great save to deny Lewin whose close range header had looped over her, but she managed to dive backwards to prevent the ball crossing the line. 2 minutes later Bray missed a sitter for Norfolk, when she was put through and rounded Lunn only to shoot tamely wide of the open goal. As the half-time break beckoned, Suffolk pressed the home goal, and Fletcher saved well from both Parnell and Warnes.
After the break, Norfolk doubled their lead in the first minute, when a through ball split the Suffolk defence and found Coates who carried the ball into the area to slot past Lunn. A few minutes later, Blake played in Turner, but as she shaped to shoot, Fletcher challenged and blocked the shot. The game went very quiet for long periods, with the home team using substitutes giving the initiative to the visitors who were unable to make an impact on the game.
Good defensive work by Gordon prevented Farman from adding a third goal – getting back to deny her opponent a shot at goal, after she had been put through by Rennie. As the minutes ticked away, and legs became tired Parnell tried her luck from long range – her lob failed to trouble the keeper – and then she slid a pass inside a defender to open up an opportunity for Warnes. The striker disappointed from close range.
In the last 15 minutes, Suffolk had their best spell of possession, but with just 5 minutes left, Coates shot just over from close range against the run of play. The final opportunity fell to Suffolk when a corner from Parnell to the near post was flicked on by Warnes to Turner, but keeper Fletcher blocked the close range effort.