All three of the Fleetwood Town Wrens Ladies teams were in action over the weekend in their respective leagues, with the Reserves winning their clash against Carlisle United away from home.
Starting off the weekly report with the First Team, who were back at Poolfoot Farm on Sunday as they hosted Cheadle Town Stingers at the training complex. The Ladies got off to a good start in this one as they went toe-to-toe while producing brilliant spells of play and constantly looked dangerous on the attack.
Contrary to this though, it was Cheadle who managed to open the score on the day as they found the net late in the first half, and even though Town earned a penalty just before the break, the goalkeeper for the away side managed to stop the shot meaning it was all to do in the second half.
The rest of the clash was end-to-end, with both sides creating multiple chances, but it wasn’t long until Cheadle extended their lead due to an error at the back. Louise Allan managed to halve the deficit midway through the half, but another mistake at the back put the game out of sight for the Ladies meaning Cheadle took all three points home with them.
First Team squad: O’Neill (GK), Cardwell, Duffy, Hendry, E.Slater, S.Slater, Carmichael, Kennerley, Allan, C.Parkinson, E.Parkinson, Hickson, Jones, Daniel, Warbrick, Hill.
Player(s) of the Match: Charmaine Cardwell and Ellie Duffy.
Moving on to the Reserves now, who managed to beat the Cumbrians on the road 5-1 meaning they were able to bag their first win of the season on Sunday! The Ladies started brilliantly and showcased the style of football they can play throughout the afternoon as Chloe Parker netted the opening goal on her debut for the club.
Pressure mounted on the home side’s goal, and this led to a great goal from last season’s Player of the Year, Emily McCarthy, who made the game 2-0. Carlisle did manage to pull one back to bring the lead down to one, but Fleetwood didn’t let this phase them as they went on the attack once again.
The standards never dropped throughout the 90 minutes by our Ladies and the second half showed that they can be clinical with their finishing as McCarthy netted her second of the game, securing her brace, before Ruby Farrell and Emily Crompton rounded out the scoring, closing out their five-star performance on the road.
Reserves squad: Cook (GK), Walmsley, Mullender, Stenton, Frankle, Richmond, Hardman, Brandes, Parker, Greenaway, Stritch, Aitken, Farrell, McCarthy, Crompton.
Player(s) of the Match: Islay Aitken.
Finally, the Development Squad were also in action on Sunday as they kicked off their league campaign against Haslingden Reserves. Much like the other sides, they started their game well and showed they could play at a high intensity from the off, which was much like how they performed in pre-season.
This work rate proved to be beneficial for the Ladies in the clash as Ruby Hindle scored a much-deserved goal on her debut for the side and this led to more dominant play. This was the story until the 70th minute when Haslingden started to show their clash, netting not one but four goals to round out a tough defeat on the road.
Development Squad team: McClaren (GK), Hague, Smith, Spencer, Ebert, Holden, Fryer, Rayworth, Thorpe, Webber, Brown, Hallas, O’Neill, Baines, Hindle.
Player(s) of the Match: Jess Smith.