The Coventry City Ladies preparations for their 2009/2010 Midland Women's Combination League got off to an inauspicious start with a 3-0 defeat at home to local rivals Aston Villa. An own goal in either half plus a composed finish were enough for a score line that flattered the visitors as the Sky Blues showed that they'd progressed well from their 2-0 County Cup Final defeat at the tail end of last season.
Manager Paul Cudby was encouraged by what he saw from his young squad "certainly for a first run out we competed well with a Premier League opponent whose season starts two weeks before ours and as such are further along in their preparations. We played some decent football, worked exceptionally hard and didn't make it easy for Villa. We hit the crossbar just before half time, had that gone in it could've been a different result".
A Natasha Lynch deflection gave Villa the lead and Jade Whitfield's sliced clearance killed off the game at 3-0. Cudby used the game to give valuable experience to several Centre of Excellence graduates including Lucy Gardener, Chan Davis, Hannah Miles, Emily Peacock and Stacey Christie. Next up for City are Villa's Northern Premier rivals as a trip to Leicester City Women will present another very tough challenge for the Sky Blues.
Team: - Netty Manca (Sarah Morgan (Lucy Gardener)), Chantelle Davis (Jade Whitfield), Ali Forbes, Natasha Lynch, Hannah Miles (Lyndsey Bryenton), Emily Peacock, Helen Dermody (Cherelle Archibald), Kelly Henson, Nicole Tinto, Robyn James, Stacey Christie.