Morpeth Ladies 1st XI v Broom Ladies 1st X1
Result: 3-0
Scorers: Hagan, Corbett, Bell
MOM: Teleri Wilson
AOM: Ciara Corbett
Morpeth kicked off the new season having had the benefit of only one warm-up match and with a slightly different line-up so could have been given forgiven for being a bit sluggish out of the blocks.
Instead the home side started with a bang.
Straight from the whistle they looked to take charge of the game with Corbett and Hagan combining early to put the Broom defence under pressure. Eventually they had to foul to stop the onslaught and from the resultant short corner, Cockburn struck a crisp rising shot goalward. The height was such that the defender on the line could only deflect the ball into the roof of the net. A dream start!!
With Broom still on the ropes, Morpeth took control of the midfield with Wilson, Bowler and Cockburn working hard to break up the play by winning tackle after tackle. Pollock, making her debut at right half, was often the outlet from this regained possession and from one of her drives into the circle another short corner was won.
This time though Hagan’s pass didn’t quite fall straight to Corbett on the stick stop and it looked like the opportunity had gone. However the Irish centre forward recovered quickly and still got an accurate shot away before the advancing defence could close her down. The reassuring clatter of the backboard was the result with the lead doubled.
Perhaps not surprisingly given the frenetic start, the pace and intensity dropped a little and Broom started to get more possession. However, Watkins and Hindmarch looked comfortable in defence and were able to mop up any attacks before they threatened the goal. And the first half finished with Morpeth trying to wrap the game up with a third goal, with Pick in particular doing some excellent chasing down to force more and more errors.
It wasn’t to be and so the half-time team talk focused on getting back to the initial momentum and closing the game off. Broom was still in it and could only get better.
In the first spell of the second half, Morpeth pressed forward but couldn’t secure the clinching third goal with strike after strike going narrowly wide. The away side seemed to take some heart from this and started to build some attacks. Bryson broke down a promising attack with strong challenge but Morpeth were increasingly getting forced back. The pressure increased with the home defence conceding a couple of short corners but with Wilson charging out, Rose was able to deal with the resulting shots without too much difficulty.
Finally, Morpeth closed the game off. Another solid passage of play led to yet another short corner. This time Morpeth changed their tactics with Hagan taking the straight strike and she didn’t disappoint hit a rocket passed the stunned keeper before she had a chance to react.
With the match won and with tiredness setting in, Morpeth’s play got a little disjointed for the last few minutes but they did enough to keep their shape and ensure that a morale-boosting clean sheet was added to the three points.
