CULLERCOATS 0–3 CRAMLINGTON UNITED - Tyneside Women Footballers

CULLERCOATS 0–3 CRAMLINGTON UNITED

59’ | 63’ | 68’

Another tough draw in the Women’s Trophy saw The Doves take on higher-league opposition once again in Cramlington United, with a bare-bones squad and absolutely no room for passengers.

Cramlington showed their quality early on with some excellent passing football, keeping the ball moving and making us work hard. Rachel was kept busy with a few efforts from distance, but they were all pretty much bread and butter for Rach.

Cully had a decent opportunity around the half-hour mark when Rhianna’s cross found Abbie, whose glancing header drifted narrowly wide. One of those that had us thinking, “Ooooh, that was nearly!” Anf the first half came to a close Deadlocked

0-0Ht

The Doves started the second half brightly but Cramlington were Suoerb om the counter and Rachel produced a superb one-on-one save to keep us in the game. Unfortunately, on the hour mark the deadlock was broken , Cramlington finally found the elusive through ball and made no mistake to open the scoring.

Then came a mad nine-minute spell that ultimately decided the tie.

A superb counter-attack doubled Cramlington’s lead , from our corner they broke quickly showing terrific pace

0-2

No sooner the pacey winger finally got the better of Cailin and squared the ball across to a teammate with acres of space. With Cully caught out of position, the third was tucked away, making it 0–3.

Three goals in nine minutes. Ouch!!

Did we switch off, or did Cramlington simply turn it up a gear? Probably a bit of both, but credit where it’s due ,they took their chances when they came.

To our lasses’ credit, though, there was no collapse and no white flags. Just as the floodgates threatened to open, Cully stopped the rot and kept battling.

The Doves continued to push forward, and Anna F found herself in the area, producing a great turn and strike that looked promising until the Cramlington keeper pulled out an equally impressive save.

Despite the scoreline, there were plenty of positives. We were organised for large spells, put in some excellent challenges and made some superb interceptions. The effort and commitment were there, even with limited numbers so still plenty positives to come from the game

Ultimately, Cramlington’s pace, passing and well-organised back line proved difficult to break down, and we couldn’t quite find that bit of quality in the final third but Abbie did a great job in a unfamiliar role for her.

The result ends our Women’s Trophy run, but there’s no shame in losing to quality opposition. We gave them a game for long spells, battled through a difficult afternoon and kept going until the final whistle.

Cullercoats player of the match went to Rachel in between the sticks. Kept us in the game with some superb saves