Ladies suffer losing start (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Ladies suffer losing start

1:00pm Friday 21st September 2012 in Local

STOURPORT Ladies suffered an early setback to life in National Conference West when beaten 2-1 at home to Middlesex based Barnes.

After all the excitement and build-up to their first ever National League game, Stourport made a flying start, bossing the first-half and building a 1-0 lead at the break.

Sarah Cavendish became the first Stourport player to score a National League goal when she converted from a short corner which had initally been won by Chloe Marshall-Walker.

Barnes were given little opportunity to get back into the game at this stage as Stourport’s defensive trio of Sophie Harris, Erin Preece and the outstanding Heidi Devey closed the visitors down at every opportunity.

The second-half was a different story as Stourport started shakily and Barnes began to get on top.

Thankfully, Devey was proving rock-solid in defence while netminder Sally Smith helped keep Barnes at bay with several reaction saves.

Eventually the pressure told and Barnes levelled matters from a short corner move.

A second Barnes goal soon followed, again from a short corner awarded following a tackle from Harriet Burns, who picked up a green card as a result.

Stourport battled to the end and nearly levelled from a short corner, but Barnes held out.

This Saturday, Stourport make the long trip to Swansea for a National Conference West game.

Stourport Ladies second string had their fixture with Boots cancelled while the third team lost out 3-1 at Barford Tigers where Kathy Doyle was on target.

l The fifth team played Kidderminster as a curtain-raiser to their National League game but lost out 4-2, Rosie Connolly and Rachel Dobson were on target for Stourport.