Haywards Heath Ladies 1
10 February 2008
Hassocks Ladies edged through to the semi finals of the League Cup with a 2-1 win over Haywards Heath. There is a long an often bitter history between the clubs and it was good that both of the present sides could put that behind them and produce a thoroughly sporting and entertaining game for the record crowd for a Ladies game at the Beacon. Heaths initial game plan of defending high up the pitch had to be swiftly rethought as a combination of an immaculate pass from Alex Southgate and a perfectly timed run from Katie Harding quickly sprung the offside trap and with a calm and collected finish Harding notched up her 23rd goal of the season to put Hassocks in front. The rest of the half produced very few chances for either side as Heath packed the midfield and Hassocks players became frustrated that they were being prevented from playing their normal game. There was personal pride at stake in the Hasssocks defence in their determination to prevent former Hassocks player Jo Ashworth from scoring and the one time she did escape the clutches of centrebacks Amy Hooper and Alison Dudley, keeper Conny Coppinger was quickly off her line to block the shot. The second half saw Heath equalise early on after taking advantage of the one instance of defensive indecisiveness and apart from a couple of scrambles in the area to clear the ball from a corner or free kick, Hassocks goal was never seriously challenged any further. With central midfielder Emma Young having to be taken off injured, manager Tom Reynolds played a huge gamble by throwing on Hassocks youngest and perhaps least experienced player Elly Bryan and how she responded to the challenge with her hassling and harrying of the Heath defence, a shot that narrowly passed the post and then calmly under pressure playing in Harding for the winning goal. With experienced player Bee Rathbone being brought on to shore up the defence Hassocks saw out the game and perhaps should have added one more as a final period of pressure resulting in a number of corners expertly taken by player of the match Hooper caused all sorts of problems. Heath should take credit from their performance which belied their position 1 division lower and some 12 league places below Hassocks and if they could produce performances like that every week they would be challenging for promotion. Hassocks now face a race against time to get 11 players fit for their League fixture on Sunday away at Petts Wood.
Team:
Conny Coppinger,
Sonya Nye,
Amy Hooper,
Alison Dudley,
Sam Newman,
Colette Barry,
Emma Young
(Elly Bryan),
Laura Turner,
Liz King
(Bee Rathbone)
Alex Southgate,
Katie Harding
Scorers:
Katie Harding (2)