Maidstone 8 - Colchester 1

Maidstone Ladies 1s vs Colchester

Maidstone ladies second league game of the season took them to Colchester- an unknown entity to the Maidstone team and their coach.

They started the game strongly, quickly turning over possession from Colchester and moving towards the opposition goal.
With a pitch that was bouncier than what the girls were used to, the Maidstone girls found it difficult to get the ball under control and create the effective passing patterns they are becoming accustomed to. That being said- the first goal came after the ball moved from left to right, with a strong run down the right baseline from Emily Bush who passed the ball across the goal- evading the defenders and the Colchester keeper- for a tap in at back post from Louise Cassey.

This continued throughout the first half with Maidstone moving the ball nicely and creating opportunities aplenty, resulting in further goals from Emily Bush and 2 from Lesley Price.

There were, however, breaks in Maidstone’s concentration and work-rate allowing Colchester to have their opportunities- but Becky Ward in the Maidstone goal was ruthless and made some key saves to keep her clean sheet going into the second half.

Colchester came out in the second half with renewed vigour and put the Maidstone defence under pressure.
New addition to the squad, Elle Scott, took up her role on the right side of defence with confidence- supporting the play moving forward and holding her position well.
However, Colchester took their chances on the break- and scraped a goal back to break the second half deadlock.

The Maidstone midfield movement across the pitch raised again- creating the opportunities for strong attacks down each wing and along the baseline leading to a third goal from Lesley Price and a first from Claire Weddle.

A short corner opportunity arose for Maidstone which was straight from the training ground- the ball was dragged out by Weddle to top D, stopped by Louise Cassey and transferred to Catherine Broadbent to hit calmly into the back of the goal.

Maidstone continued to push through to the final whistle- sticking to their processes and moving the ball well around the Colchester players- with the last goal coming from Lizzie McClintock transferring the ball from the right to Hannah Durston on the left wing. She found Katie Gibbons in space who ran strongly to the Colchester D, smartly spun on to her strong side and shot accurately into the bottom corner, solidifying her Man of the Match award after a excellent performance across the pitch.

The Maidstone ladies will take plenty of positives from this performance but equally learn severe lessons about keeping a level head and how to fully capitalise against weaker opposition.

Next week the 1st XI are back home on Armstrong Road facing Chelmsford at midday.

Final score 8-1.