Latics Ladies struggle but clinch victory against Avro
Oldham Athletic Ladies made hard work of defeating bottom club Avro’s 6-4 in Sunday’s Greater Manchester Women’s Football League Division 2 game at Chapel Road.
This was Athletic’s first league outing since the start of December, and it showed. Latics fielded two debutants. Hanna Piercy in goal and Natalie Ryan in Midfield. Kim Shaw was suspended, Courtney Williams injured and Busby & Brien unavailable.
Latics had all the opening play with new girl Natalie Ryan making her presence felt with an early chance that went wide. Athletic’s opening goal had a bit of the comical to it. Alison Barber shot and Avro’s defender Lauren Day’s attempted clearance failed as the ball went right under her foot and trickled past keeper Phillips.
Oldham kept the pressure on and it was no surprise when they increased their lead. Cat Hyde made space and unleashed a shot which hit the bar and bounced on the line. Anette Falch was there to make sure it went in. Latics 2 – 0 Avro’s.
Avro’s came more into the game. Ciara Gemazala and Nicola Lees settled down and from then on caused problem after problem for the Latics back four. Indeed it was this pair that in short order brought Avro’s level. Firstly Lees pounced on a defensive error to slot calmly under Piercy and then Gemzala saw her chance from a long clearance, she carried for 30 yards before shooting underneath the onrushing keeper.
Falch scored again for Latics on 32 minutes. The ball was bobbling around from a corner. Athletic’s forwards took a couple of air shots before the ball ran to Falch who deftly shot over the keeper and under the bar.
HT: Oldham 3-2 Avro’s.
Into the second half and it was leading scorer Shelby Newton who made it 4-2 with a shot from out wide. Avro’s again came back and again it was Gemzala. She picked up the ball just inside her own half and just beat the full back for pace. She cut into the box and place a looping shot past sub keeper Dinsdale for the goal of the game.
An Avro defensive error on 70 mins lead to ‘tics opening up a two goal cushion again. Avro's defender’s were letting the ball run out for a dead ball when Falch nipped in and placed a shot inside the keepers near post.
5-3 became 6-3 on 72 minutes when Yasmin Deane’s corner was knocked in when Alys Wild back-heeled past the keeper. Nicola Lees rounded off the scoring with 10 minutes left to make it 6-4.
Manager Dale Newton speaking after the game said “It was nice to get playing again. It took them a while to get moving together. Then they started linking up. We had a few hiccups but came through them”
“We still need to push on. We have the speed to beat most teams. We lost the right hand side in the first half and it is something we need to work on in training”
“Credit to Avro’s this afternoon. While I thought we should have been further ahead at the break, they never game up and they pressured and harried us. In the second half we dropped Cat (Hyde) to sweeper and we handled the Avro’s forwards better.”
OLDHAM ATHLETIC LADIES: Hannah Piercy, Rebecca Dinsdale, Emmanuoela Chrissaki, Cheredith Green, Catherine Hyde, Alison Barber, Yasmin Deane, Natalie Ryan, Shelby Newton, Anette Falch, Alys Wild
Subs: Gemma Smith, Cedellah Kayupa, Rachel Dinsdale, Patricia Turner.
AVRO’S LADIES: Phillips, Farebrother, Byrne, Quinn, Gemzala, Scallon, Rhodes, Day, Lees, McGuiness, Jayne. Subs Sheil
Looking forward to next week’s game against league leaders Reddish North End Newton said: “I'm looking forward to it, The girls are up for it. It will not be easy though. If we can win every game from here on we will win the league. The girls have the skills to beat anyone. When we beat them down there 5-2 earlier this season they never looked close to us.”
Next week second placed Oldham Athletic Ladies travel to leaders Reddish North End. The game is at North Reddish Park, SK5 6JW. Kick Off at 14.00