Successful double-header weekend for Slough Ladies

by Mike Haymonds

EHL Premier
Slough 4 Brooklands Poynton 0
Slough 0 Canterbury 0

SLOUGH Ladies took four points from two matches with opponents from opposite ends of the Premier table but their performances, particularly against title contenders Canterbury, were not entirely convincing.
Against basement club Poynton they should have doubled the four-goal victory margin but, despite dominating throughout, they lacked a cutting edge in the final third and won only three penalty corners, all in the second half, without converting any.
Against Canterbury, who came with a defensive mindset, Slough struggled to break down a solid rearguard, were frequently let down by their final touch and won only one corner in each half.
But their own defending was impressive, restricting Canterbury to a single late corner and their keeper Becky Duggan was only called on to make two saves.
Slough’s new captain Chloe Strong, who has taken over from Fiona Greenham., said:
“I’m very happy to have the four points. I’d have settled for that before the weekend.
“The Brooklands game was the one for us to improve our ‘goals for’ but we tried too hard and the second half became frantic.
Against Canterbury it probably looked worse from off the pitch than it felt on as we did have some moments of good play.”
Slough had an early chance against Poynton but Lauren Penny was thwarted by the visitors’ keeper Michelle Thomas and it was not until 19 minutes that Alex Scott broke the deadlock from a tight angle.
Five minutes later Natalie Bell set up a second for Louise Bevan before a Penny cross just eluded Bevan and Thomas slid out to deny Scott a shot.
Within five minutes of the second half the game was won with two more goals. A Scott/Sam Archer build-up laid on a simple conversion by Ball at the far post and Archer then embarrassed Thomas with an underpowered shot which crept through her pads into the far corner.
From then on the game went downhill, marked by a flurry of cards for mistimed tackles. Ball saw green, followed by yellow for Strong and Mandy Nicholson while Poynton’s Nat Wray collected yellow.
Slough made nothing of three corners, coming closest at the last when Strong’s strike was deflected away by a defender, while the visitors’ set-pieces saw the strike blocked at the first and the second off target.
The game marked a National League milestone for Slough. Ever-present since the inaugural 1989/90 season, they have by far the best playing record, having reached 700 points with their 219th win in 337 games.
The goalless scoreline with Canterbury was fitting for a scrappy game of poor quality, the second half of which saw both teams’ frustrations produce a sequence of cards for bad tackles as the umpires struggled to calm the frenzied atmosphere.
For Slough Ball missed seven minutes for green and yellow cards with Strong and Greenham each sitting out five-minute yellow suspensions.
Canterbury’s Grace Balsdon and Sarah Kerly earned green and yellow respectively. The first half had little of note, apart from an early stick save from a Strong corner strike by Scotland keeper Abi Walker and, for Slough, a Becky Duggan save from Hayley Brown.
In the second half each team had one good chance from corners late on when Duggan deflected clear Mel Clewlow’s strike at the visitors’ only set-piece and Strong’s effort was stopped on the line.
SLOUGH (v Poynton): Duggan, Nicholson, Strong, Coulson, Bell, Cunningham, Greenham, Ball, Scott, Penny, White. Subs: Archer, Bevan, Bowe.
(v Canterbury) as v Poynton less Archer, Bowe.