Chorley Women earn well-deserved point on the road

It was an extremely difficult fixture Sunday afternoon, with both sides having to overcome the adverse weather conditions. The odds were seemingly stacked against Chorley Women, however they managed to battle hard and earned a well deserved point on the road. Chorley remain as they were in third place and three points from the top spot in the FAWNL Division One North.

Chorley manager Carmelo Ruggieri made three changes to his side in preparation for this close match up, with Lizzy Hamer, Faye Stanhope, and Isabelle Wade in the starting line-up, Chorley looked to use a newfound approach against the league-leading side. In other pleasant news, Millie Fitzpatrick was listed in the squad for Sunday’s fixture after returning from injury. She was subbed on in the 64th minute which was very enjoyable to see for the fans and the team.

The game began in an end-to-end fashion with possession being turned over a lot in the midfield areas. The ball was travelling a lot slower due to the blustering elements which led to some inaccurate passes from both sides. If the ball was played in the air, its usual flight path was soon diminished due to the forces blowing against it.

It was important for Chorley Women to play the ball on the floor, around the Cheadle midfielders. With essential tight man-marking from Chorley captain Megan Searson and left back Dids Parish, Cheadle struggled initially to break away and perform their usual threatening counterattacks. However soon enough, the first chance of the game was by Cheadle’s number 9, Rachel Dunlop, who’s shot fell wide and went out for a goal kick.

This seemed to be the turning point in the first half as Cheadle then began to plough forwards on several occasions. Although, Chorley were very strong defensively and managed to clear the danger of each attack. Notably, Faye Stanhope resiliently tracked back many times throughout and provided some solid tackles to help put a stop to any Cheadle progressions.

There was significant drama in the 17th minute as the Cheadle players were protesting that the ball had gone over the line and a goal should’ve been given. This succeeded a scuffle in the box after a free kick just outside. The low, bobbling shot from Cheadle’s captain, Yasmin Ahmed, forced Chorley’s Safron Newhouse to clear the ball off the line desperately in order to prevent the opener. The referee and linesman confirmed that the whole ball had not crossed the line and, fortunately for Chorley, the score remained 0-0 in the first half.

The second half then commenced and Chorley seemed to retain possession a lot better. Chorley were believed to be the better side as they began to have more chances and looked more promising on the ball.

Chorley managed to progress down the right side of the pitch with some long throws from Iszy Binks in order to open up the space down the line for attacker Molly Wood to run on to. Moments later, Binks then provides an impressive curling cross to put Molly Wood in a 1v1 position with the Cheadle goalkeeper. Unfortunately, the goalkeeper reached the ball just before Wood and the chance fizzled out.

Later on in the half Chorley had a few consecutive corners, taken by Lizzy Hamer. Due to the precision of Hamer’s corner, the Cheadle goalkeeper was forced to make a save and put her body in the way which nearly saw Chorley convert at the far post.

As the game was coming to a close, both teams started to become a bit messy in their passing and challenges. As a result, many fouls were given in midfield for either team and the game was very stop-start.

Chorley defender Dids Parish was booked in the 79th minute after coming in too strong and knocking the Cheadle player down and off the ball.

With both sides desperate for the winner, the game returned to being end-to-end however it finished 0-0 and a point was shared at The Ground Up Solutions Stadium.