After last weekend’s match was postponed, County Ladies had two games in just six days to contend with in league and cup, starting with a tricky evening away fixture against local rivals Chorley in the FAWNL. Find out how they got on in our latest weekly update:
Manager Steve O’Hara describes the action:
“A cold night over at Burscough, but the girls were superb from start to finish. We moved the ball round with real comfort and made Chorley work hard.
“We had to be patient, but soon our good play began to tell and openings started coming; the Chorley ‘keeper keeping the scores level by tipping a Maria Figueiredo effort on to the post and then denying Kenzie Bentley on the rebound.
“Pressure finally paid off on 40 mins, when a great header from Harriet Houghton looped over the keeper to give us a deserved lead at the break.
“We continued the second half in complete control of the game, but just couldn’t find the second goal our play deserved. Faye, in our goal, never had a serious save to make.
“A clean sheet on the road in midweek is always good, and that’s now nine clean sheets in the league so far this season, which is a great achievement.
“A special mention to all the fans who travelled over on a cold night, making lots of noise in support of the girls.”
County power through to Cheshire County Cup final!
After bagging a valuable three points away from home, County moved on to the Cheshire FA County Cup semi-final on Sunday, another local derby away at Crewe Alexandra Women.
Two goals in quick succession midway through the first half, from Lily Murphy and Rachel Davison, saw County comfortably in charge at the break, but we had to wait till the final fifteen minutes for a dominant performance to make itself felt.
First Murphy bagged her second, followed by two quick strikes from Maria Figueiredo, moments after coming on as a sub. Icing on the cake was provided late on by centre-back, Chloe Howard, getting her second goal of the season just before the final whistle to seal a 6-0 win on the road.
Steve O’Hara’s reaction:
“A very assured and dominant performance from the girls to secure our place in the final, our play was a joy to watch! Sometimes in the past we have been guilty of dropping our levels against lower league opponents, but today was a real step away from that.
From the first whistle we moved the ball around well, making Crewe work hard, and soon gaps appeared for us to exploit.
“I am especially delighted with the two teenagers who made their full First Team debuts; Sofia Whitehurst and Lily Murphy. Both put in excellent performances, Lily grabbing a couple of goals and the team’s Player of the Match award.
“It was also good to give some other players plenty of minutes and be able rest a few at the same time. It’s a competition in which we came up short last year, and there is a real hunger amongst the group to put that right in the final this season, where we meet last year’s winners, Tranmere Rovers – the side who knocked us out of the competition on penalties last season.
“We now have four league games left and a final to look forward to. It’s been an excellent season and I’m proud of how well we have developed – the group is just getting better with each performance.”
