Monday 7 December 2009

Back to winning ways!

Dawlish vs. Honiton
5th December 2009

Dawlish travelled to face Honiton with a full side but no subs and started confidently with a formation that has worked well for them this season. They put early pressure on the Honiton defence using the speed and skill of their two young wings Jess Green and Amy Reed. But despite Dawlish’s pressure up front they seemed to have a gap in their midfield and when Honiton made a counter attack they found their way through the Dawlish defence and scored from a strong driving pass from the right.

As the first half continued Dawlish continued to put on the pressure; Anne Darby and Green linked well on the right to force short corners and Reed came close to levelling the score on a number of occasions. Dawlish were finally given a clear chance to level the scores before the half time whistle after a Honiton defender cleared their line with a foot and the visitors were rewarded a penalty flick. Helen Nicholson took the flick and beat the keeper to make it 1-1 as the whistle went.

A change of formation at the start of the second half saw Tasha Bailey move out onto the left half to support Amy Reed, and Gemma Wilkes take over the sweeper position. This change filled the first half gap in midfield and Dawlish took almost complete control of the second half with Sue Trout and Mandy Lovell picking up any stray forward runs from Honiton with ease. The Dawlish central midfield pushed forward with Lottie Young and Liz Reed giving the Honiton defence a difficult time, a strong run for Young straight through the Honiton defence finished with a pass to Nicholson which she converted into a 2-1 lead.

Dawlish were briefly down to ten men when Green had to leave the field but they continued to hold control of the match. Amy Reed was unlucky not to score as she used her strength and skill to find herself one on one with the keeper. As the end of the match approached Honiton became more determined in their defence and Dawlish felt unlucky not to have been awarded with more short corners or for cards to be shown. But it was Dawlish who got the last goal of the game with Nicholson scoring her hat trick to give her side a 3-1 well deserved, but hard fought, victory.

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