Sunday 10th July 2022 12 noon kick-off on 3G pitch
On the hottest Sunday of the year so far, a 12 o’clock kick-off proved a good arrangement with the heat forecast to rise even further during the day. In the dry atmosphere the pitch played very slowly but it did mean that long passes over the top of both defences, that would normally skid away for goal-kicks, actually got held up in play. The result being that both teams had their work cut out to stop speedy attackers.
Both Nicha Dyett and Darts’ opposing No 18, got a lot of the ball in the last third of the pitch and the match had plenty of goal attempts.
On the fifth minute, Emily Vaughan found herself in a one-on-one situation with their keeper who managed to save Emily’s attempt with her legs, but the ball sat up nicely for Nicha to wallop the ball firmly into the net.
Six minutes later, their No 18 broke free and lobbed the ball over new keeper Jess Cooper but went just wide.
Jess, was soon in action again as their opponents pressed for an equaliser and brought out two quick saves in succession, one which she blocked before bringing off a fine diving save, low to her right-hand post.
Emily Read had a great run down the right-wing, sending over a cross high into the goalmouth only for it to be scrambled away followed by an attempt from the edge of the area by Emily Vaughan which went harmlessly past the right side of goal.
A threatening break from the away side finally ran into Jo Woodgates, who tackled well and immediately set up a counter-attack down the right involving Emily Read and Amy Green. Nicha received the ball and shot at goal, but for the second time in the match, the goalie’s legs saved the day for them, but this time no follow-up and the ball went out for a corner. This was dealt with cleanly by the keeper.
In the second half, Darts had a scare after just five minutes when possession was lost on the edge of the area and the resultant shot only missed Jess’s left-hand post by inches. This was a real let-off for the Darts.
A short time later, Emily Vaughan crossed from the right but once again the tall keeper plucked it out of the air with ease and then an accurate defence-splitting through pass found Emily V, but she was judged to be fractionally off-side.
Opposing No 18, probably their greatest menace, pounced on a central midfield error and found herself free and behind the Darts’ defence but with a fair distance between herself and the Darts’ goal. Georgie Davis came sprinting across the penaly area, and with Jess closing down the angle but also standing up well to the attacker, the ball was finally smashed just inches wide of Jess’s right-hand post. This was a real let-off for the Darts but proved that the do-or-die attitude within the squad was there to be seen and deservedly meant that their goal was kept intact.
Jess had to deal with another long-range effort which was straight at her but slightly high which brought out a ‘3-attempts’ save from her, parrying the initial shot, mis-handling before pouncing and gathering the ball safely.
Nice work from Shauni Giffiths beating her opponent then cutting in, managed to get her pass through to Amy Panayi who struck it sweetly enough from the edge of the area, but with the ball rising all the time was always destined to fly over the bar.
Amy again found herself in a similar shooting position minutes later but resulted in a similar rising shot.
Although not every player has had a mention here, this was certainly a good team performance with great willingness to run off-the-ball and presenting their opponents with plenty of problems from many different attacking angles. One-touch passing was also played at times by both teams.
Considering this was the first friendly match of the new season, played in very hot conditions, the play from both sides was excellent and played in fine spirit. But make no mistake there were some elements of hardness to this match where neither side rarely gave an inch and both managers must have been pleased with their set of players in a keenly fought-out friendly match, where there was, equally, fine play.
Result: Dartford Women 1 Hastings Women 0