Hassocks Ladies FC 4
21 October 2007
Hassocks Ladies made the long trip to Whitstable on Sunday and made a major contribution to a Premier Division match which the referee described as a superb advert for women's football and one which would have made a spectacle had it been a cup final. Although for once Hassocks were quickly out of the blocks they had to survive Whitstable hitting the post and then the crossbar before they really slipped into gear. Hassocks opened the scoring after the Whitstable keeper had made an amazing double save but she could do nothing to stop Vicky Preece finding the net from the rebound. Their lead was extended after Katie Harding was cynically fouled on the edge of the box. A free kick at that range was a gift to dead ball specialist Emma Young and sure enough the quality of the strike was such that the keeper could only watch and admire. Hassocks started the second half brightly enough but then seemed to press the self destruct button as they inexplicably dropped deeper and invited Whitstable on to them who took full advantage to score three goals to take the lead. Having used their only available substitution it was a massive blow to Hassocks to be reduced to ten players after Charlotte Deeley was carried off injured. By far the greatest strength of Hassocks this season is their commitment and team spirit and although they have a much smaller squad than last season everyone gives everything for the cause. Centreback Amy Hooper was poleaxed from a challenge and despite being groggy and dizzy refused to come off. Whitstable's prize asset is their centreback who though diminutive in size is immense in ability and despite having been given a torrid time all afternoon by Katie Harding she had not put a foot wrong and it took a pass of immense vision and quality from Laura Turner just before full time to cause her undoing and Harding showed great composure to score the equaliser. With ten players dead on their feet it would have been very easy for Hassocks to settle for a point but they wanted more and having been shown the way to unlock the defence by Turner, Colette Barry produced an almost identical pass for Harding to get the winner deep into injury time. Although Turner took the player of the match award this win was down to the team as a whole who have a week's rest on Sunday before facing another mammoth trip this time to Dover.
Team:
Conny Coppinger,
Charlotte Deeley,
Amy Hooper,
Alison Dudley
Sam Newman,
Colette Barry,
Emma Young,
Laura Turner,
Vicky Preece
Alex Southgate,
Katie Harding
Sub Liz King
Scorers:
Katie Harding (2)
Emma Young
Vicky Preece