Gillingham 0 Watford 2

FA Women's National League Southern Premier, Sunday 12th March

Sunday saw me over at The Sports Ground, home of Chatham Town, for a FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division contest, and it saw second half goals from Bianca Baptiste and Poppy Wilson hand visitors Watford a dominant win over Gillingham on a blustery day in Kent.

The Gills came into this contest seventh out of twelve sides in this division having picked up twenty points from their fifteen games so far and were only seven points ahead of second bottom Bridgwater United, and there opponents today were Watford who were nine points better off and in fourth spot and attempting to chase down Portsmouth, Ipswich Town and leaders Oxford United above them.

The hosts form had been mixed since the start of February, netting three wins and two losses, in fact they seem to win one week and then lose the next, that has been the pattern recently, so if that was anything to go by then Watford should win this one, but it doesn’t work like that does it, although The Hornets have been in decent form lately, their only defeat in the last month was at second placed Ipswich Town, but they have won three of the other four they played, including a win over third placed Portsmouth.

These two did met in the league on the opening day back in August, and Watford ran out 3-2 winners, so would we get another entertaining contest, and also would we get the same outcome?

Well, the visitors dominated the contest from the off, and did everything but score in the first period which saw them have the majority of the ball, and they had plenty of efforts at goal too, including hitting the woodwork twice, but whatever they tried they could not bust that door down and some of them looked frustrated as the half time whistle sounded with the game still goalless, although their coaches were keen for them to remain patient and the goals would come.

The Gills battled hard and certainly came out with more purpose for the opening exchanges of the second period, but Watford were soon back to dominating possession and looking the most likely to break the deadlock, and with just over twenty minutes remaining won a penalty after a shot had been charged down with an arm, and although Wilson, on as a second half substitute, saw her spot kick well saved by Gills keeper Cara Davies, Baptiste, who had been superb down the right hand side all game, thumped home the rebound to give The Hornets a more than deserved lead.

The visitors then managed the game whilst trying to find a second to clinch this one, The Gills continued to battle but found it hard to get near their opponents for the majority, and their only attempt on target was a clearance that was blocked back at goal but straight into the arms of the grateful Jacqueline-Anne Goldsmid who comfortably held it, it had been a quiet afternoon for the visiting keeper that was for sure.

And the visitors did manage to grab a second goal deep into stoppage time when after shouts for a penalty fell on deaf ears, the ball ran into the path of Sophie McLean and she squared across goal for Wilson to tap home and make amends for her earlier miss from the spot and cap a pretty dominant win for the visiting side.

Full time Gillingham 0 Watford 2

 

 

Shall we have a look at the rest of Sunday’s action in the division? Ok go on then…..

Billericay Town 4 Bridgwater United 1 (A brace from Jess King plus further goals from Zoe Rushden and Lucy Jones helped hosts Billericay to all three points against struggling Bridgwater United at New Lodge, Ellie Sara had brought the visitors level at 1-1 three minutes before the break after a Jess volley had given the Blues the lead, but a Jess spot kick right on half time restored the hosts lead and then further goals from Rushden and Jones saw the Blues to an emphatic win)

Ipswich Town 3 London Bees 0 (League leaders Ipswich Town made it five wins on the bounce after seeing off London Bees at the AGL Arena. Freya Godfrey gave the hosts a tenth minute lead before she doubled their lead nine minutes after the break, and the hosts sealed another win with seven minutes remaining when Sarah Brasero-Carreira fired home)

Milton Keynes Dons 3 Crawley Wasps 1 (A record crowd of 1,186 were in attendance to see hosts MK Dons take victory over Crawley Wasps, the visitors did actually take an early lead in the fourth minute though Tish Nicholls but were pegged back in the seventh minute after Mollie Coupar scored. The Dons then led after nineteen minutes when Angelina Nixon headed home a corner, and the points were sealed early in the second period when Laura Mitchell finished from inside the box)

Portsmouth 1 Plymouth Argyle 0 (Pompey got back to winning ways after Jazmin Younger’s 82^nd minute goal was enough to see of Argyle at the PMC Stadium. The winning moment came when a Danielle Rowe corner caused chaos in the penalty area and Younger was on hand to poke the ball home)

 

And let’s now look at how that affects the table after all those results…..

Ipswich Town still lead the way and are in that promotion spot for the Championship, it’s still only a point lead though over Portsmouth and then another point back to Oxford United who were not in action today. Watford are six points off the leaders but with two games in hand in them can still dream of an instant return to the second tier, it’s looking likely that promotion and title battle will be between those sides in the top four.

Down at the bottom and both Crawley Wasps and Bridgwater United lost, Wasps are seven points from safety with only five games to go, so it looks bleak for them now, however for the other sides in the relegation battle it looks tense as only two points separate Plymouth Argyle in ninth and Bridgewater Town in that other relegation spot in 11^th, it looks like a tense finish at both ends of the table!!!

 

That concludes my blog, many thanks for reading and for taking the time to do so, it really is appreciated.