Workington Town Women visited the Lancastrian coast on Sunday, as they faced fourth placed Blackpool in their penultimate league fixture of the season and picked up a merited 2-1 win.
New faces were included in the travelling squad with Erin Ferris, Niamh Edmondson and Ruby Stewart looking to secure the remaining place in the sixteen woman match day squad and it was Ruby who edged the extremely tight selection dilemma.
Town set off well and applied early pressure with Hayley Bracken testing the home keeper, Maisie Rogers with the game only 10 seconds old and after clinical links between Cassie Donald and Ella O’Nions had broken the home defence.
The first quarter of the game saw both side battling to gain control of both the playing conditions and the opposition. As such, chances for either side were few and far between, but the encounter was far from sedate in nature.
A mistake dealing with a Keeley Chatters clearance from the home back gifted Bea Barber her first sight of goal as she latched on to an under hit back pass with keen anticipation.
Rogers was alert to the danger as she left her line to take Barbers space which forced the well driven strike agonisingly wide of target.
An Ella Beadsmoore strike from range travelled narrowly wide of target soon after as she faced the club she had once played for earlier in her career.
Town were on top at this stage and were forcing significant pressure on the home side. Honest defending across the park ensured that home advances were minimal and creative play was in the visitors favour.
Kirsten Donald rattled the cross bar on the half hour mark with a strike from 25 yards out.
Barber was quickest to react as she collected the loose ball and delivered a superb driven delivery across the face of goal. Sadly, there was nobody on hand to turn the ball home, however the home side were forced to concede the corner.
This time Beadsmoore delivered a pinpoint in-swinging ball from the left which Bracken met with intent and powered an unstoppable header home giving Town a well deserved lead.
Further chances in the half were forged for Bracken and Barber, with the former lifting over the bar, while Rogers reacted well once again which meant the latter only being able to find the home keeper with her effort at goal.
The second half was only a shade over five minutes old when pressure on the home back line by O’Nions had forced a mistake.
Clean feet and quick thinking by the young striker offered Barber the chance to drive in to the area before crossing to find Bracken in the middle but her deflected effort went wide.
Beadsmoore stepped up once again to deliver and Bracken reacted well to adjust to the out-swinging delivery and power was replaced with control and purpose as she headed over Rogers into the far corner.
Blackpool halved the deficit three minutes later and in doing so stirred the home side’s intentions after a speculative strike from distance had came loose in the area. Abby Anderson had anticipated well and was on hand to drive home into Laura Miller’s goal.
Unsurprisingly, the game then returned to the arm wrestling that was evident throughout the earlier stages of the first half.
Again, it was Town that were able to fashion the better of the chances at goal, however a display of good positioning from Rogers and safe hands ensured that Blackpool remained in the game.
With a little over 20 minutes remaining, Stewart was given her first taste of regional level football and the youngsters efforts did not go unnoticed.
Her quality of touch and speed of pace, offered more than enough to unsettle the home left back and keep her on her toes.
Helen Wagstaff made her return to action after an extended period of time on the sidelines due to illness. Adding her calm head and experience had undoubtedly steadied the ship in Town’s favour during the final stages of the game, a timely intervention at a critical point in the game.
The last telling chance of the game fell to the Seasiders goal scorer Anderson as she found herself in behind what had been a disciplined visiting defence.
Fortunately, Miller was on hand to react well, coming off her line to close in the same fashion had her counterpart had done earlier, saving well off her legs and securing the win for her team.
Hayley Bracken was awarded the player of the game for Town after an impressive display throughout which was complimented with a brace of well taken goals.
After the game, captain Kirsten Donald said: “The result came on the back of a disciplined and gritty performance by everyone. To be fair to Blackpool they never gave up and we had to work tremendously hard to stay on top of them.
“The pitch didn’t lend itself to free flowing passing football and so we had to adapt and be prepared to fight for everything.
“We face Haslingden at home this weekend for our last league game of the season.
“We will be looking to keep this form up and finish what’s been a very frustrating season on a high. We’ve had fixtures stacked at either end of the season and long periods of inactivity in between.
“This has been difficult for us all to adjust to, but we are already looking forward to the challenges that next season presents.”
