With the season drawing to an end in a little over two weeks’ time, local rivals Carlisle United Ladies and Workington Reds Ladies were faced with a midweek fixture at Creighton Rugby Club.
It was West Cumbrian side who came out on top, taking the honours 5-0 to complete a League double over their local rivals.
The early exchanges were shared equally between both sides, with urgency and intent replacing patience and composure and the physicality of a derby encounter being clearly evident, but in controlled dosage.
The Reds were making the better connections and looked most likely to break the deadlock with intricate passages of play creating promising openings.
Hayley Bracken latched onto one of these openings in the 23rd minute and drove into the penalty area with purpose before being barged off the ball illegally by the covering defender and rightly being awarded a spot kick.
Bracken’s first attempt came back off the post, but the kick was retaken after Carlisle had encroached. The second attempt was clinical as Bracken gave keeper Chelsea Norris little chance of stopping the strike.
The game continued to flow in a similar manner up to the half time break with the Reds slender lead, fair reward for their efforts.
However, the second half was far from equally shared as the visitors dominated throughout. Rare Carlisle advances were dealt with effectively by the back four of Sophie Birkett, Linzi Donaldson, Holly Redmond and Lauren Campbell with Laura Miller a mere spectator for most of the time.
The Reds doubled their lead in the 52nd minute after a line-splitting ball from Donaldson was collected and moved on with great quality from Morgan McGrady whose pass split the back line for Bea Barber to race through to collect before calmly slotting home past Norris.
The trio were in action again 20 minutes later with Donaldson splitting the lines for a second time, with Barber the target. Barber’s first time pass found McGrady feet as she set off on a diagonal burst to break the back line before setting and slotting home a composed finish.
The Reds extended their lead twice more in the final five minutes, starting with a second for Bracken.
Laura Ivison had done well on the left to protect possession before finding Bracken in space centrally. Bracken linked to expand the play with Sarah Smith, whose return pass met Bracken’s angled run and took her into the box.
Bracken then drove towards the touchline before striking across the keeper to find the far corner from a tight angle on the right.
Three minutes later Helen Wagstaff used her experience and skill to drive the ball to the corner and eat up the clock. Wagstaff displayed great strength and control to protect the ball before linking with the supporting Birkett who in turn found Donaldson in a better position more centrally.
Donaldson’s delivery was intercepted by a home defender but her clearance found Ivison close by who reacted superbly to deliver a dipping volley over the keeper to round off the night’s scoring.
Bea Barber was awarded the Player of the Game vote for the Reds Ladies for her hard work and constant threat on the home goal.
Team: Laura Miller, Sophie Birkett, Linzi Donaldson, Holly Redmond, Lauren Campbell, Helen Wagstaff, Olivia Paice, Bea Barber, Hayley Bracken, Rowan Williams, Morgan McGrady, Sarah Smith, Nat Hooper, Laura Ivison.
