Workington Reds Ladies went down 3-1 at Accrington Stanley Ladies, undone by three late goals.
The Reds slender single goal lead wasn’t enough to see them over the line with three cruel blows being dished out in the last 20 minutes, two of which were in the final five minutes of the game.
Hayley Bracken stepped up to convert a penalty late in the first half after Bea Barber had been scythed down in the penalty area. This was the second of two decent claims for a penalty involving Barber, with her elusive free running proving difficult for the home side to handle.
Bracken stepped-up and duly converted from 12 yards out, beating keeper Tan Nash’s drive low to the right.
In a fair assessment of the first half, it would be right to say that both sides had good chances in front of goal with Accrington proving lively particularly down their right.
Reds had good chances created by Morgan McGrady, Rowan Williams, Laura Ivison, as well as Barber and Bracken.
Equally, with the defensive resolve of the visitors being put under serious pressure, a solid performance was required from all with centre back Holly Redmond leading the way with ferocious tackling and intelligent carries.
The second half followed similar pattern to the first with Stanley maybe shading the possession stats, but the Reds proving difficult to break down. It looked like the home sides heads were starting to drop, such was the level of frustration.
As, the game entered its final stages, Accrington found themselves level after a speculative strike from distance found its way to the alert Georgia Payton who finished clinically from close range.
This lifted the spirits of the home side as their earlier frustration was replaced with belief. With five minutes left Stanley went ahead from a corner from their right which was met from close range by Megan Rodriguez. This was followed two minutes later by a strike from the edge of the area by Lou-Lou Newton.
Holly Redmond was awarded Player of the Game by Accrington for her dominant performance in defence, defusing home attacks and her intelligence in possession.
After the game, manager Paul Mackenzie said: “The result was by no means a fair reflection of the game. The Ladies deserved something to show for their hard work against a strong home side, but this proved not to be the case on the day.
“We had positives to draw from the game, Olivia Paice made her competitive debut off the bench and Lauren Campbell gave a good account of herself in what was probably the most minutes she has played in a single game since joining us in the summer.”
The Reds Ladies return back to the Fibrus Community Stadium this coming week-end as they face Penwortham Ladies FC in the league. The Ladies won the corresponding away fixture by a single goal just before Christmas and will look at this weekend’s game as an opportunity to take more valuable league points off the visitors.
Team: Laura Miller, Sophie Birkett, Naomi Foster, Holly Redmond, Nat Hooper, Chloe Henderson, Keeley Holliday, Bea Barber, Hayley Bracken, Morgan McGrady, Laura Miller, Rowan Williams, Linzi Donaldson, Hannah Ridgewell, Olivia Paice, Lauren Campbell.
