Workington Reds Ladies continued their run of good form, bagging two goals and managing to keep a clean sheet for the fourth occasion in the last five league outings.
The 2-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers Women lifted the hosts two league places to sixth and saw them rise to second in the North West Women’s Regional Division One North form standings, second only to champions Mancunian Unity.
It would be fair to say that the game was an excellent advertisement for women’s football and the close to 200 spectators, were entertained with a display of high quality football and honest hard graft from both teams, right up to the final whistle.
Bea Barber added to her impressive goal haul in the 27th minute in what is her maiden season at regional level football. Her first half strike took her tally to 17 for the season so far.
The move started off with Barber on the left edge of the Wanderers penalty area as she collected a loose ball. Barber found Morgan McGrady supporting and connected with McGrady driving at the visitors defenders and crossing a ball in to the box.
Hayley Bracken was first to react and her strike was goal bound, only to see the Bolton keeper, Laila Stanley, save well. The rebound fell to Barber who composed herself and gained control before shooting across the keeper to find the right side netting.
Bolton came close to equalising soon after and would have done so had it not been from an excellent save from Laura Miller in the home nets.
Good work centrally had developed an opportunity on the Bolton left which resulted in a strike at goal. The ball looked destined to find the far right bottom corner, but Miller’s diving save allowed her to get finger tips on it and redirect the ball past the post.
Both sides spirits were strong and the battle continued to the break, with high work rate and effort aplenty.
The second half followed similar fashion, but it was the home side that got the rewards in the 52nd minute and doubled their lead.
Bracken collected the ball centrally about 35 yards out and drove with power and poise before changing direction to develop the attack. Having drawn the attention of the covering defender, Bracken slipped a pass to the supporting Rowan Williams.
Williams’s composure in front of goal served her well as she calmly shifted the ball before firing past Stanley, to find the left corner.
Bolton remained defiant and threatened Miller’s goal on a couple of occasions, but the spirit and resolve of the home side stood the test and kept these advances at bay. The Reds fought to the end and in doing so ensured that the spoils were theirs as they leap frogged Bolton into 6th in the league with five games remaining.
Holly Redmond was in fine form on the day and her display caught the eye of the Bolton coach who named her as Player of the Game for the Ladies.
The Reds had welcomed two sets of match day sponsors to the game with both voting for Bea Barber as their Player of the Game for her constant threat throughout.
The family and friends of Barry Fisher and Barry McGuirk had came together in their memory and the Teasdale family came together to offer their support to the ladies.
The Reds face local rivals Carlisle on Wednesday April 10 before completing their home fixtures this season with a double header against Haslingden on April 14. This will be the last occasion when the Ladies will play a league fixture at home under their current name.
There has been a lot of good times over the past 12 years, especially when winning the County Cup and being accepted in to the North West Women’s Regional Division One League.
There is an immense amount of respect and appreciation from all those associated with the Reds Ladies, towards the players of the past, as well as those that supported the club’s journey over the years and pushed against firmer barriers that were apparent back then compared to nowadays.
Their efforts and the steps they made to bring ladies football to Workington will never go unnoticed or under-valued.
As a sign of their appreciation, the ladies will be inviting all those to get in touch to display their intention to attend the game if they have played or coached the club and to those that have helped to drive the club onwards over the years.
Sunday’s squad: Laura Miller, Sophie Birkett, Naomi Foster, Holly Redmond, Lauren Campbell, Linzi Donaldson, Chloe Henderson, Bea Barber, Hayley Bracken, Morgan McGrady, Rowan Williams, Natalie Hooper, Hannah Geen, Alice Kemp, Olivia Paice, Hannah Ridgewell.
