Berks County Women 5 Marlow Town Women 2
TVCWFL Division Three South
With my intended game, the eagerly awaited clash between Caversham United and Reading Community Women, falling victim to the heavy rain, I had settled on having a rare football free Sunday. That was until a Twitter conversation on Sunday morning where I was reminded that the Berks County match was still on thanks to the all-weather surface at Bracknell Sports Centre, so I found myself taking the ten minute walk from my house to the game.
This promised to be an interesting matchup with the hosts sitting at the top of the table after a great run while Marlow, who started slowly, were now finding their feet in the division, winning their last two.
The visitors were also slightly hampered for this game, missing three first team players and only having one substitute on the bench. Berks County had no such problems with a full bench at their disposal.
The game started evenly, both sides winning early corners but with both coming to nothing. It didn’t take long for the home side to go ahead; a long ball over the top was picked up by Freya Johnson who ran into the area before calmly slotting the ball past Hannah Stoyel and just inside the far post. 1-0
The hosts tails were now up and a nice one-two between Kiah Owen and Johnson finished with the latter hitting a shot on target which was well dealt with by Stoyel. Minutes later they did double their lead, a nice move started by Owen who played it on to Charlotte Furst who in turn found Lauren Turk. She hit her shot across Stoyel from just inside the box with the ball beating the diving keeper and nestling in the back of the net. 2-0
Berks County went further ahead with a ball through the middle from Owen gave the pacy Olivia Aluko a chance to run in on goal. She managed to just beat Stoyel to the ball as they both arrived together on the edge of the box, Aluko picking herself up off the floor and did enough to roll the ball into the empty net. 3-0
Marlow managed to pull one back when a great ball through the County defence by Kate Addison was picked up by Lucy Bell whose run took her into the area where she finished well past Jasmine Voskova-Matsell in the home goal. 3-1
Just before the break Berks County scored a fourth. Some nice play and a lovely through ball from Krissna Thakrar found Johnson and she made no mistake, firing the ball into the roof of the net. 4-1
H-T: Berks County 4 Marlow Town 1
The home side came out firing at the start of the second half making three quickfire chances. Owen’s shot from distance was too high, Johnson hit the side netting from a tight angle and Stoyel saved well from a Thakrar shot.
Slowly the visitors got themselves back into the game after the early blitz and started having more possession but they couldn’t find a way through the good defensive line of the hosts.
A ball over the top saw Aluko’s pace again cause Marlow problems, she outpaced Emma Izon and raced clear only to see Stoyel make another good stop. A lovely cross field pass from Owen was half cleared by the Blues defence but fell to Johnson whose shot struck the post and went to safety.
Marlow gave themselves a lifeline after Bell was brought down on the right coner of the box. Lucy Dodwell-Bennett crossed the free kick to the far post where it was bundled home with I think Kate Addison getting the final touch. 4-2
At the other end a Freya Johnson corner picked out Kiah Owen but her header was just wide of the upright. A lovely Lauren Turk turn in midfield gave her space to thread a pass through the defence for Aluko to run onto again. She beat Stoyel to the ball, taking it round her but too wide and she couldn’t get her shot on target.
Berks County finally finished the game off with a fifth, another superb pass through the defence by Turk again picked out Aluko and this time she side footed the ball past the advancing Stoyel. 5-2
F-T: Berks County 5 Marlow Town 2
The hosts win made it six wins from seven games and opened up a three point gap at the top of the table. A good team performance all round from them and I couldn’t argue with the choice of Amy Phipps as player of the match. Lauren Turk also impressed, showing some lovely touches especially in the second half, and had a very good game also finishing with a goal to her name.
Marlow never stopped battling and chased after everything despite being short-handed and will have taken plenty of positives from this game. Hannah Stoyel again had a good game in goal, Sharon Muir doesn’t stop running and never gives anything up. My pick of their players was Kate Addison who had a very good game while playing in several different positions during the match. Every one of the Marlow team put in a great shift.
My thanks also to Jodie White, the super sub, for guiding me through the names of the Marlow players.
No doubt I’ll be catching up with both sides again as the season progresses!