Workington Reds Ladies continued their run of away games with a trip to Bolton Wanderers which ended in a narrow 2-1 defeat.
The trip meant that the Reds squad has chalked up over 1,000 miles on the road since the start of January.
The Eddie Davis Academy hosted the first encounter of the season between the two North West Women’s Regional Division One teams and it was the Wanderers Ladies that settled the quickest.
Protecting the ball was the foundation to their dominance in the first half, and the Reds back line of Alice Kemp, Naomi Foster, Eleanor McDonald and Natalie Hooper had to work hard to offer protection to the Reds keeper Laura Miller.
A critical assessment might be that the home side’s quality in the final third could have been better and as a result the half finished goalless.
The Reds Ladies re-grouped at the break, but were undone by two quality strikes from Shannon Gill that left Miller helpless.
The first came in the 49th minute when she found the top corner from a central position and the second, the pick of the two, in the 80th minute, from the Wanderers left side found the far top corner.
The Reds had equalised earlier on the 68th minute through a lifted strike 25 yards out from winger Sophie Birkett after some keen pressing from Kacey Rodgers had forced an error.
At this stage the Reds had grown in to the game and Liv Bennett and Morgan McGrady were looking dangerous up front. McGrady collected the ball centrally and her strike had beaten Abbie Havier, the Wanderers Keeper, but unfortunately ricochet to safety from the base of the post.
Gill’s second strike proved decisive enough to take all three points on offer as the Reds remain on 16 points from 14 games.
Threatening carries on the left was enough for Liv Bennett to be selected as the Reds player of the Game on her second appearance since signing in December.
Sadly, the demanding programme of away games doesn’t finish there for the Ladies as they travel to Liverpool on Sunday to face Alder FC Women in the Argyle Sports Kit Plate competition on Sunday.
Reds squad: Laura Miller, Alice Kemp, Naomi Foster, Eleanor McDonald, Natalie Hooper, Keeley Holliday, Sophie Douglas, Sophie Birkett, Emi Rudd, Morgan McGrady, Kacey Rodgers, Chloe Henderson, Linzi Donaldson, Hannah Fawkes, Liv Bennett.
