Torquay United moved to the top of the South West Regional Women’s Premier League, with a professional and workmanlike performance on the road in Gloucestershire, as Forest Green Rovers Women dropped their first points of the season.
United, struggling with injuries, still took a strong sixteen to Hartpury College, allowing Lee Mann to juggle his back line again, Alex Sheppard and Sam Burnham in the central roles, and Kaitlyn Harris at left-back. Chloe Williams was preferred as a starter to Ellie Bishop, primarily as she’d caused Rovers issues in a Liskeard shirt, last season. Sasha Mole was again on the bench as she edges ever closer to a full return, and there was a debut for youngster, Lana Northcott.
After a nervy start, the visitors dominated the opening half. It could have been a different tale though, had Burnham’s errant back pass inside 4 minutes, been capitalised on by Rover’s striker, Rhiann Robbins, but she rushed her shot and scooped the ball wide of Jasmine Read’s post.
Forest Green’s defence has been rarely breached this campaign, and despite United’s dominance with the ball, the play on the edge of the host’s 18-yard box, meant United were regularly stopped from finding the killer pass. Eventually though Emily Elliot down the right, and Williams, with Lucy Palmer often overlapping found space down the flanks and United got closer to an opening. Lucy Solloway came closest, glancing a free header from Williams’ ariel delivery across goal, when she should have hit the target.
Moments later, a half clearance set up Tracey Cross, whose wonderful curler towards the top corner, was met with an equally superb save by Florence Stiddard, getting both hands to the ball to turn it over the angle. A Torquay goal was coming, and eventually, a little luck and the hands of a Forest Green defender set up a direct free kick to the right of the D, and Tee Kaptein blasted it through the wall and the fingertips of Stiddard.
United thought they had a second when Elliot got the last touch in a scramble from a Burnham corner but was adjudged offside.
Forest Green’s 100% record was on the line and Torquay would have expected a response, which duly came immediately from the restart, Read twice called upon to deny the hosts an equaliser inside the opening ninety seconds. Where United had dominated the opening spell, roles were reversed, and it was the visitors forced into compact defending, with Read out once at the feet of an attacker to again thwart a Rovers leveller.
Torquay made the situation even worse, as Tracey Cross was sin-binned for ten minutes after an exchange of dialogue with referee, Adrian Forrester. Instead of substituting in Lexie Watts to cover Cross, United went with the pace of Bishop on the right, and it worked, relieving some of the pressure on United’s back line.
And it was Bishop’s slide rule pass that led to Torquay’s second, splitting the center-backs, and Williams’s pace drew an initially great save from Stiddard, but the Rovers stopper parried it back to Williams who effectively walked it into the net.
The two-goal cushion allowed United to manage the final quarter of the game, keeping Rovers at arm’s length, and choosing their times to go forward. Bishop might have sealed the game when put through in a similar position to Williams, but this time the keeper got firmer contact and there was no follow-up. But United did add the cherry to a good victory in stoppage time, Northcott, on for the final five minutes hurrying a defender to concede a corner, Cross rising eight yards out to bullet Burnham’s set-piece past Stiddard.
Three goals, three points, and top of the table – it was a good afternoon’s work, and the perfect warm-up for next weekend’s F.A.Cup First Round.
Torquay United: 24 Jasmine Read, 2. Lucy Palmer, 4. Alex Sheppard, 5. Sam Burnham, 14. Kaitlyn Harris, 6. Adele Brown, 7. Tracey Cross ©, 10, Tee Kaptein, 3. Emily Elliot, 9. Lucy Solloway, 11. Chloe Williams Substitutes: 12. Ellie Bishop, 15. Sasha Mole, 16. Lexie Watts, 17. Natascha Bevan, 19. Lana Northcott
Player Of The Match:
En route back from the win, we caught up with Emily Elliot and Ben Cooper. You can hear their assessment of the day HERE.