Match Report
The showdown between the two title contenders was never going to be an easy game, but it was one for which Sheffield felt ready, and determined to put the two previous defeats to Howden Clough this season well and truly behind them. The match had to be switched to the Doncaster Rovers Belles’ usual pitch due to the Bright Finance Stadium being ankle-deep in water following the downpours of the previous couple of days. A sunny and warm but breezy day found the players in good spirits: excited and really up for it.
However, Howden Clough were really fired up for it too, knowing that only a win would be good enough to keep alive their hopes of winning the League title this season, at their very first attempt. The visitors started the game in a supremely confident manner showing pace, strength in the air and a desire to win every ball in all areas of the pitch. Howden’s aggressive style that we had seen plenty of in the last two encounters had been added to far more since the last meeting though, and the team now showed a quickness of thought and action that left Sheffield second best. Sheffield were hurried into making unaccustomed mistakes, perhaps nervous about the occasion, and two goals in the first twelve minutes for Howden left the hosts wondering what had hit them. An attack up the left saw the ball played through the Sheffield defence for the excellent Helen Wagstaff to fire home from ten yards, shortly before quick passing opened Sheffield up again at the back and Louise Ikin powered through to collect the pass and had the cleverness and calmness of mind to lob the on-rushing Caz Whiteman from just outside the box.
This made a massive dent to Sheffield’s confidence which was battered further as the visitors stuck in a third with less than 25 minutes on the clock. Howden Clough could hardly have believed the ease with which they were finding space and being allowed to play the ball around, nor could they have ever dreamt of such a start to the match. Sheffield needed to stop the rot, and stop it quickly, and they grabbed a goal back when Lisa Bailey's break up the right and excellent square ball allowed Clare Holmes a fairly simple finish from inside the six-yard box. This could, and should, have steadied Sheffield, but instead they allowed Howden Clough back in less than two minutes later to set them reeling again. As Sheffield pushed out of defence, a ball was played forward to meet the perfectly timed run of Wagstaff who slotted home passed the helpless Whiteman. The visitors added a fifth following a handling error by the Sheffield keeper shortly before the break to leave the hosts with a mountain to climb.
Sheffield needed to up their game and basically work a lot harder in all departments to win the ball, put their opponent's under pressure and show some much needed fight, and to their credit, the players did much better in the second half. It was simply about pride now, and the hosts sought to restore some confidence and give their opponents at least some indication of the sort of form that had taken them to the top of the league. The improvement was almost instantaneous as Sheffield started taking the game to Howden far more and posing much more of a threat up front. Holmes got a second goal back just before the hour mark by getting on the end of a loose ball in the box and forcing it over the line from close range.
Helen Wakefield was brought onto the right wing shortly after the goal to inject more pace and she was a willing runner for the rest of the game, instantly exploiting space and using her speed to carry the ball passed opponents. Sheffield pressed without creating a huge number of chances, but they limited Howden to no more than two scoring opportunities in the whole half. This was largely due to a fantastic display from centre half Lauren Davids who saved what looked like a certain goal by sprinting back 40 yards and sliding in across the goal line to prevent the ball from squeezing in passed the near post.
With little less than 10 minutes to go, Lisa Giampalma scored for the hosts when she poked the ball home in a goal-mouth scramble, although with several stoppages for a number of injuries, there was more like 16 minutes still remaining. Sheffield were desperate now in their attempts to find another goal to set up an exciting finale, but the shots produced were wayward and came to nothing. Giampalma found herself in space just outside the box, but was over-eager in her haste to get the shot away and hit it off-balance, the ball bouncing through for a straight-forward claim for the keeper. Holmes had a good chance for her hatrick when through with just the keeper to beat, but her shot was too close to the Howden no.1 who gratefully scooped up the effort.
The final whistle brought to an end a bitterly disappointing match for Sheffield who, in spite of winning the second half and producing a much better display of football, had simply left themselves too much to do after an uncharacteristically poor first half.
TEAMS:
Sheffield FC Ladies: Whiteman, Rowell (N Crofts 74), Davids (J Crofts 79), Wright, Gale, Charles (Wakefield 61), Giampalma, Taylor, Grainger, Bailey, Holmes
Goals: Holmes 29 & 58, Giampalma 81
Player of the Match: Lauren Davids
Howden Clough LFC: Morton, Kiddle, Rushforth, Howell (Lucy 75), Wood, Hunter, Mills (Cooper 35), Rutherford, Wagstaff, Entwistle-Barstow (Croft 67), Ikin
Goals: Wagstaff 8, 21, 31 & 39, Ikin 12
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