Alfreton Town 0 Coventry City 6
Coventry City Ladies turned on the heat on a cold grey day in the Derbyshire
hills on Sunday as they warmed up for their FA Cup encounter with Northern
Premiership contenders Lincoln City with a controlled display of attacking
football to entertain a good sized crowd who braved the weather at Alfreton
Town.
The Impact Arena has hardly been a happy hunting ground for the Sky Blues
over the last few seasons with Alfreton always proving to be a well
organised and difficult side to beat.
This season Town have struggled with injuries, but were boosted on Sunday by
the arrival of four new signings in Becky Haslam, Jodie Ward, Danielle
Laughton and ex Forest and England U15 midfielder Robyn Henton.
The opening exchanges saw the home side going long with both Henton and
Laughton showing good pace in pursuit, but with the Sky Blues first
meaningful attack the visitors should have gone ahead when Formaston whipped
the ball in low from the bye line and Helen Dermody crashed the ball against
the Lonergan's legs from 2 yards with the keeper not knowing much about it.
A succession of corners kept the pressure on the home goal, but on 11
minutes there seemed little danger when Kelly-Ann Willis was forced out to
collect the ball 22 yards out with her back to goal. But Willis stunned the
home crowd with a swivel and exquisite left foot lob into top far corner of
the net to give City the lead.
On 24 minutes Kirsty O'Sullivan was upended some 35 yardsfrom goal and this
time Natasha Lynch surprised the home defence by sending a thunderous
dipping free kick gainst the underside of the crossbar which Danni Saulter
rammed in from close range to make it 2-0.
Keeley Lowe went close with a strong header from Formaston's cross that had
Lonergan leaping high to her left to claw the ball out from the top corner,
but there was nothing the home keeper could do to stop Willis making it 3-0
with a scorching right foot shot from the corner of the box to cap a fine
sweeping move that had started in Coventry's own half.
City skipper Lynch thought she had made it four with a diving header after
Lonergan blocked her first effort from a corner, but referee Haw had spotted
an infringement. The Sky Blues were hoping he'd spotted another one just
minutes before the break when Formaston burst into the box and had her legs
taken away from behind as she pulled the trigger from 6 yards, but with the
defender failing to get anything on the ball, he chose to award a goal kick.
H-T 0-3
The Sky Blues started the second half brightly with O'Sullivan and Lowe
shooting narrowly over, but Alfreton weathered the storm and came back into
the game, with Robyn Henton going closest when she seized on a misplaced
pass and fired narrowly wide.
Sinead Wade replaced Willis on 55 mins and within a minute the Sky Blues
went four up when she powered inside from the left and sent a pass along the
6 yard box that Keeley Lowe went full stretch to toe in at the far post.
On the hour Stuart Wilson replaced Formaston with Natalie Brace and shuffled
his pack further with Natalie Wilcox coming on for Alison Forbes.
The final quarter was all one way traffic with Saulter and O'Sullivan
dominating midfield and driving City forward and Natalie Brace raiding down
the left flank. On 82 minutes Brace played a one two with Jenni Lowe and cut
the ball back to the edge of the area where Sinead Wade took a touch before
rifling into the top corner.
Wade returned the favour two minutes later, sliding the ball inside for
Brace to go one on one with the keeper. Her right foot shot was brilliantly
blocked by Lonergan but as the ball bounced up Brace rose to nod home to
make it six.
Manager Stuart Wilson was particularly pleased with the performance.
"Alfreton always seem to make it difficult for you here, it's a great
facility and they have a good crowd behind them. But we've played some
terrific football at times today and the finishing was excellent; six very
good goals and we could have had more. We face a sterner test next week
against Lincoln in the FA Cup; we need to keep this momentum going"
Team: Williamson, Forbes (Wilcox 68), Lynch, Cartwright, J Lowe, O'
Sullivan, Formaston (Brace 60), Saulter, Willis (Wade 55), K Lowe, Dermody