Croydon Too Hot for South London Women
In the basking Sept-Ember sun and hard pitch at Club Langley, Croydon donned the Yellow away kit for the first time this season, and it wasn’t just their shirts that were brighter. South London had a tall number 41 who immediately looked up for the match, sprinting past several players before finally winning a corner. A short one was well saved by an alert Steph Liddle.
Croydon had Georgina Fangawa start on the right and it paid off immediately. Her great wing play fed Yoyo Oke in the box. Yoyo controlled and turned well and hit her shot past the red keep, it rebounded off the post and Georgina was able to covert whilst getting clattered in the process. 1-0 to Croydon, but Georgina had to go off to get attention. Number 41 almost equalised immediately from the kick off, her clever run behind the trams defence and she hit the post. Gracie Leigh Dunkley was doing well amongst a lot of pressure from the reds, and one timely tackle and pass to Tammie was sublime. Tammie Adekanmbi found Kacie inside the box but her shot was mis-kicked under pressure and easily caught by the keeper.
Tash Wright was making it difficult for the reds and was busily breaking up attacks from Right back. She allegedly fouled the SL player outside the box. The free-kick was struck well but thankfully straight into a well-placed Steph. Lucy Casey had a spell of winning several headers in midfield as Croydon stood firm against a well drilled reds. With midfield won, Croydon started to spray passes around. Tammie found Yoyo whose cross shot was well saved. Vanessa Moreno came onto play and linked well on the left with Gracie Leigh and Tammie.
Megan Webster was marshalling from defence and hitting great long balls across the pitch, one found Georgina out on the right. She cut in to Lucy who latched onto it well for it to be deflected for a corner. Number 17 for the reds switched to the right and menaced the Croydon defence. First, her shot well saved by Steph and then twice ran through only for debutant Sara Kytosaho to intercept. Steph was forced into a great fingertip save putting the ball out for a corner, and once again was quick off her line to get to the short front post corner. Up the other end Yoyo was putting herself about and fed Tammie who was clear through only to be pulled for offside.
Half Time
The Croydon coaches asked Jenny Brown to take the right back place and it was a master stroke as Jenny began to turn defence into attack. Kacie Nadison-Singh had a low drive well saved and held by the reds keeper. Tash headed out for a corner which SL wasted. The goal kick was mis-kicked by Kammie Ovrevik who had been very composed in the opening minutes, and number 41 blasted the ball narrowly wide. Kammie had to come off and once again the defence was re-arranged, with Chantae Wallace coming into left back. Another free kick saw number 41 header wide. Megan hit a great pass over to Tammie whose cross was headed out. Jenny was winning everything on the right. She made a vital 50/50 tackle, did a lovely turn and took the ball down the wing. Her cross was inch perfect for Yoyo to meet on the volley past the despairing reds keeper. 2-0.
Yoyo and Georgina were telepathic in their movement and passing, another good move saw Yoyo get wide to cross. Georgina almost replicated the move a few minutes later and her cross was well held by the reds goalie at Tammie’s feet. The play really opened up as tired legs began to tell for both teams. Good passing by the reds was well intercepted by Jenny who found Kacie to do one of her sideways run darting past challenges with aplomb. Lucy put a great ball over to Tammie that was slightly blocked for the reds keeper to get to just in time. The reds then had a ten-minute spell that saw number 41 score from her own rebound off her own player, low into the corner 2-1. Number 17 waltzed through a few lunges before shooting well. Steph saved but it went to onrushing number 15 who found the net. 2-2. Croydon once again looked the brighter. Georgina had a left foot curler go just wide, and Kacie saw a great fee kick glanced over for a corner. Jenny thought she’d scored from her own edge of box shot, the reds keeper fumbled and it bobbled close to the line but was cleared again.
Tammie was finding her stamina was superior to the reds and was a constant thorn down the left. One great run was intercepted by the third attempt and Croydon had a corner. Chantae played a cute short ball back to Kacie. Kacie lost her marker and tapped back to Megan, a good 35 yards out. Megan hit an absolute belter which hurtled beyond the reds keeper and nearly ripped the back of the netting. 3-2. The Reds were not beat and came back immediately with number 15 clean through, but once again an alert Steph was able to smother the ball. Another good ball over the top was ruled offside. Yoyo was forcing errors in the reds defence and the midfield were doing well to back track. Tash, the oldest player on the pitch, found an energy and tenacity unseen before. Jenny was linking well and Sara was proving a reliable last defender with pace and height. Kacie robbed the reds defence and had her shot saved. Yoyo still found time to hit a cracker that beat the reds keeper but crashed against the bar. The last throw of the reds dice saw number 41 round the Trams defence but her low shot was once again well saved by Steph for a corner. This was mis-kicked by tired legs and Croydon held on for their first win this season and three well-earned points.
Player of match: Joint : Georgina – linked well up front. Jenny – Could be the over-lapping right back we need?
Images © Croydon WFC