Rutherford Ladies v Darlington Women

Today we played Darlington Women at home who were currently sitting top of the league.

The game started slow for us seeing Darlington take the upper hand and really attack at our defence and goal. The team defended well not allowing Darlington to take the lead. We entered the half time break at a draw.

The second half the team pulled out a far better performance and began creating some great chances in front of goal. Around the 60th minute of play striker Mel broke with ball catching the keeper off her line she struck the ball which was heading towards the top right hand corner of the goal. It hit the post and bounced out but her fantastic desire and work rate to get to the ball saw her win back possession and put it over the line from an extremely tight angle. The ball hit the inside bar on the goal and bounced out seeing the Darlington keeper jump on top of the ball. The referee was still at the half way line and was in doubt to whether it crossed the line so didn’t award the goal to striker Mel’s and the entire teams disappointment.

This decision give the team some fire in their bellies and they really upped the tempo. Finally they were rewarded with a goal on the 82nd minute with some superb team play. Winger Emma won the ball and played it through to Mel, she carried the ball and found striker Hannah’s feet. Hannah then played the ball through to striking partner Zarr who ran the ball into the box and beat the keeper with a superb right footed strike.

Darlington worked hard to find the equaliser seeing them be awarded a corner on the 84th minute which saw them convert their chance and bring the game back to a draw.

The team carried on for the remainder of the game really attacking at the Darlington goal but time ran out and a point was shared between the two teams.

Always a good game when these teams meet and today didn’t disappoint for a great watch.

Huge well done to player of the match Mel for her excellent performance and work rate for the entire game. She should have made the score sheet but this didn’t take away from her superb performance.

Well done girls!