27/08/17 Review: Stoke City Ladies vs Leicester City Ladies

Stoke City Ladies 1-3 Leicester City Ladies (Women's Premier League Northern Division)

Community Drive

Just over since months after my first visit, this August Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon was put aside in my diary for a return to Community Drive so that I could go along and support the Potters Ladies side once again and get the proper match day experience in Smallthorne, Stoke. My last outing to this ground was for the Staffordshire Ladies Cup Semi-Final encounter between Stoke Ladies and their very own Reserve team and on this occasion the first team were barely tested, running out 6-0 winners on their way to winning the Cup for the ninth time in a row. Today's test in the early stages of the new Women's Premier League season, which is the third tier of women's football, would prove to be a far sterner challenge in the form of Leicester City's side and with the Foxes ladies winning their opener 2-0 versus Bradford City. Stoke on the other hand had lost their first match of the new season last Sunday as a poor 1-4 defeat against Derby County saw them get off to a disappointing start at Community Drive- so baring this in mind, I predicted a 2-2 draw for this one even though I would be cheering on a Potters victory.

Potters vs Foxes, let's do this

As a former resident of the Sneyd Green area of Stoke I was quite familiar with this area of the city and although I never got to see the last tenants, Norton United, play at Community Drive, I was aware of the ground and after my last trip I was keen to get back over to my old stomping ground. I made it across town in just over 10 minutes and had a good 15 to spare before the game, meaning that I could pop in to the bar to grab myself a pre-match pint just in time for the action to commence. After originally walking into a darkened room with the shutters down on the bar, I feared that my afternoon out in the sun would have to be observed without the aid of a tasty beverage- a fate that I shall undoubtedly have to face tomorrow afternoon at Chester vs Macc. After eventually finding myself holding my all too familiar groundhopping buddy, I proceeded to enter the ground itself just past the astro-turf pitch and cricket pitch that are also housed within the sporting facility. Once handing over £2, an absolute bargain for a proper game of competitive football, I took my seat in the lower stand in-front of the hill full of people enjoying the sun with deckchairs and such, and before I knew it the game had started.

Eleventh game of the season, including friendlies

Within the opening three minutes the hosts were up on their feet cheering and this electric start had led to the first goal of the afternoon. A ball was pumped up from the right-hand side of the field and as it headed towards the floor a battle between a Stoke attacker and Leicester centre-back eventually led to the ball bouncing unfortunately off of Holly Morgan and looping over Clarke in the visiting goal for an own goal. Stoke 1-0 Leicester. Leicester still clearly hadn't had chance to loosen up after the ride up the A50 and a defensive error almost let Kate Asher in shortly after the opener, but thankfully Clarke was able to regain composure with a full-stretch diving save to her left. Asher has looked lethal last time I'd seen her, netting two in that game, and this afternoon she looked fierce too, even though she was never really presented a clear-cut opportunity after this early strike. Once Leicester had got through the opening 10 minutes, they started to get into the game more themselves and a couple of shots in quick succession from the engineering midfield almost led to an equaliser, with one well blocked and the other stopped by a defender's face, leading to a corner which was saved by Hall in the Stoke goal. Leicester's main threat was coming from their red-headed winger who was on the left one minute and the right the next- the number 14 was rapid and caused issues for the full-backs all day, causing Hollie Gibson to get a booking in the first-half as she struggled to keep up.

I thought I'd wander over to goal side, as the Foxes were pressing 

Although the actual football was great and the weather was perfect for a match, there was one factor that can be often more inconsistent than the passing or unpredictable than the weather- the refereeing! As well as giving countless unpopular decisions, some of which were good calls and others which were baffling, the man in black somehow managed to give a 25th minute corner from the wrong side! He enforced his clearly wrong decision for the kick to be taken on the right of Leicesters posts, even though both sides, management and the lino seemed to be telling him that he'd gone nuts. With the tension rising, he called a break just before the half-hour mark to allow everybody a minute to grab a drink and cool down. Shortly after this a refreshed Hannah Keryakoplis, scorer of this beauty last week, tried her luck again as she ran inside the Leicester half before pumping a 35-yard strike towards goal. The ball floated towards the Foxes goal before eventually hitting the top of the woodwork and then out for a goal kick- an outstanding effort from the Welsh international.

Sources tell me that these are the remains of goalposts that Keryakoplis has shot at in training!

Stoke Ladies survived a final bit of Leicester pressure and would go into the break leading 1-0, unlike the men's side who had just fallen behind to a Jay Rodriguez at The Hawthorns as I re-entered the bar for a brew. For the first 30 minutes or so of the second-half, the game remained more like a game of chess as the visiting side looked to force their way back into contention. The Ref continued to halt the game and even had to book Emily Owen as she proclaimed "Ref, you're very bad". Time was getting on by this point and Leicester were still fighting to get an equaliser. In the 77th minute, they got it as Rosie Axten poked the ball home amongst half a dozen players inside the area, signalling a huge sigh of relief for the visitors who had put a lot of pressure on the home side. Stoke 1-1 Leicester. I thought that this would set up an interesting and open last 12 minutes and indeed it did- with the ball finding the net again just one minute later. Another set-piece was prodded into the box and it was Axten for the second time who bundled the ball into the net and sent the management team in the Away dugout into hysterics as they turned the match on its head. Stoke 1-2 Leicester. As much as I was supporting Stoke this afternoon, I couldn't help but applaud the Leicester comeback as it was well-deserved- Stoke hadn't registered a decent chance since half-time.

The home support started to shout out support from the top of the hill- G'wan Stoke!

This wake-up call seemed to give the Potters a second-wind as they pushed forward now to look for an equaliser of their own and during this encounter I wouldn't have put anything past either side- it could've ended 2-2 or 1-3! Sadly though for the Potters it would be the latter and a perfectly-timed counter attack from Leicester saw the ball soon find its way to substitute attacker Sophie Domingo. The blue shirted number 2 put her head down and ran towards goal, before applying a solid finish into the net and sealed the three points for the away side in the 89th minute. Stoke 1-3 Leicester. The final whistle blew after a good bit of injury-time in which Stoke looked to get a consolation goal, but this second home defeat left them still searching for a first point of the season and also kept up Leicester's 100% winning streak so far. Both of these sides are in Cup action next Sunday, with Stoke facing a trip to Morecambe and Leicester going to Chorley, but for me I'll be back in action tomorrow with one heck of a double-dose. After going to watch the side I support, Macc Town, away at Chester, I'll be heading across the M56 to Maine Road in search of a much awaited conclusion of their FA Cup Replay Replay against Abbey Hey. Let's see if it's third time lucky, ey?

19/02/17 Review: Stoke City Ladies vs Stoke City Ladies Reserves

Stoke City Ladies 6-0 Stoke City Ladies Reserves (Staffordshire Ladies Challenge Cup, Semi-Final)

Community Drive

Another 'Pint Of Football' first today for me as I would finally take the plunge and attend my first Ladies football match. Following a rough afternoon out in Burslem yesterday the plan for myself and Tom (Partizan Bristle) today was to drag our hungover carcasses over to Birmingham for the massive FA Vase Quarter-Final match between Sporting Bromsgrove and Buckland Athletic. As our departure time arrived at 1pm we took to Twitter to grab the postcode for the ground, only to discover that the match was sold out! Never had we even considered that attending a Midland League Division One team would require pre-booking tickets, so we hopped around on the internet in search of another match we could attend. With time against us, we settled with a trip across town to Community Drive in search of the Semi-Final Staffs Challenge Cup match between Stoke City Ladies and their Reserves.

The Valiants yesterday, the Potters today. That's how we roll

Tom has visited many a Ladies match before and has even seen the National side, so in this case I was the proverbial newbie as we pulled-up at the ground in Smallthorne. Despite this trip being a last-minute thing, I am very glad that I was able to go down to the old home of Norton United as it allowed me to tick off another ground and one that I probably wouldn't have gone to under normal circumstances. Norton Cricket Club & Miners Welfare Institute has become the home of the Potters Ladies side since Norton folded, and my first impression of the ground was that it would be a good one to have a snoop around. Whilst Tom ran off to find a cash point, I headed straight in and managed to make it to pitch-side in time for kick-off. With no idea what to expect and no knowledge of the set-up of Stoke's Ladies team, I perused the programme to find that the Potters lasses are currently sitting pretty in 4th in their domestic league, and with this regional cup being against their own reserves, it was destined to be a win for the side labelled as the "home" side today.

All ready for me second game of the weekend

Even from the early knockings of the bout, the side playing in Stoke's away kit- which I'd presumed to be the Reserves- looked very good and we both found ourselves spending time questioning why the second team were playing so well compared to their red and white opponents. The side playing in the home kit had the first chance, but other than that they were being outplayed from the off. Thankfully a fan nearby overheard us discussing this and explained that the side playing in the away kit was the home side and the reserves were the away team playing in the home strip.

Decent turnout

Naturally, the atmosphere here was very pleasant as it was a very familiar fixture for the two sides, and the opening goal was soon to come. As we were walking around to the opposite side of the ground towards the dugout the Firsts number 9, Kate Asher, took advantage of a ball in the box and slid in amongst a Reserves defender to notch the opening goal on the quarter-hour mark. Firsts 1-0 Reserves. Even though we'd already seen an early goal my opening impression of the game was that the number 4 for Stoke Firsts, Summer Holmes, was a class-act in the centre of the midfield. I have since found out that Summer was making her debut for the Potters today and I found her dominance early-on to be a real eye-opener as to the level of the Ladies game. It is no secret that Women's Football is becoming very popular at the moment and with players like Holmes pinging the ball about like a female-version of Andres Iniesta, it was clear to see why about a hundred or so had come out for this match. Incidentally, it would be the former Baggies lass who would net the second goal of the day on her first outing. She found herself clear in the box and despite almost fluffing her lines, she regained composure to hit home a well-deserved goal with just under half-an-hour gone. Firsts 2-0 Reserves. With the tie seeming all but over at this point, the game remained competitive and some feisty challenges were being put in. Just because this was an intra-squad game, it certainly wasn't a friendly.

The lino's certainly got a good workout 

As Jamilla Palmer's long legs flew in on a short Reserves defender, she quickly apologised as the game came to a temporary stop. Meanwhile Kate Asher, who I named the Mario Balotelli of the Women's League, was playing an assertive game up-front and was proving to be a real handful for the opponent's defence. She played with an intimidating look on her face and used her strength well to bully defenders off the ball on more than one occasion. In terms of goalmouth action, there was a couple of long-range efforts to come and just before half-time we were treated to one more goal. Harriet Wellings had hit the side-netting earlier in the game, but when she cut in from the right-hand side in injury time her cross-cum-shot looped over the Reserves keeper and nestled firmly into the net for a third time in the match. Firsts 3-0 Reserves. With that, it was half-time and therefore the moment to visit the ground's facilities. After an awkward encounter in the world's smallest toilet in which I opened the door and almost knocked a man using the urinal out, me and Tom head into the clubhouse/bar and spent the remains of the break chatting with the lovely gal on the bar. After giving me a Worthington's instead of a Lager amongst our bickering, she kindly swapped it for me and stated that the Worthy's would certainly not go to waste- got to love a happy accident. We then peeked outside to see that there was another Women's team training or warming-up in an orange kit, and watched them for a moment before heading back out to the game we were here to see.

We just love the footy- wherever, whoever, whenever

The second 45 had a similar flow to the first. Despite making a bunch of substitutions at half-time, the First team continued to dominate and when one of the subs, Ashleigh Hayes, took a shot from 25-yards the keeper could do nothing but palm it into the net and with 40 minutes still to play, it was game over now. Firsts 4-0 Reserves. After netting her first goal within four minutes of coming on, Hayes then doubled her tally on the hour-mark with a tidy finish. Firsts 5-0 Reserves. Amongst some great moments of play from the Firsts and some good on-the-ball moves from the Reserves, there was also a stand-out moment of comedy as Jamilla Palmer took a ball to the head. With a frown on her face, she simply shouted out "ooh, me head" as many from the crowd raised a smile knowing that her comical remark signalled that she was okay.

Everyone's having a good time

There was one final goal to come and it was the lass who scored the opener that would grab the closing strike and put a cap on a very comfortable progression to the Final. Asher had the ball fed into her on 82 minutes and she smashed the ball into the net from close-range. Firsts 6-0 Reserves. Three goals in both halves meant that Stoke City Ladies would be in the final yet again- they have won every Staffordshire Challenge Cup since 2008/09 and they will surely be the favourites to win a ninth consecutive Trophy following last season's triumph over Sporting Khalsa Women. My first outing to a Ladies football match was great, and I'll definitely be visiting more in the future. Having seen some decent games on TV during the 2015 World Cup and at the Rio Olympics in 2016, I would urge any football fan to go and see a live match. For me, my next outing will be at Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday as I travel down to South-East London to watch the mighty Silkmen take on their part-time opponents in the quarter-final of the FA Trophy. Cheers again to Tom who accompanied me on another fantastic football weekend- I'll be through at his again towards the end of the season to hopefully see Bristol Manor Farm lift the Western League crown at The Creek.