OXFORD 2
WORCESTER 6
The Blues women’s football team lost to a strong Worcester first team on Wednesday, leaving them mid-table and in desperate need of points if they are to stand a chance of winning the league. After taking a beating earlier in the season, the Blues were ready to fight back against a bulky and tough Worcester first XI. In a tight Midlands Conference Premier League, Oxford knew they had to surmount a strong side that is thusfar unbeaten this season if they were to sustain any kind of title charge.
The mental battle had already begun before kick off as Worcester audaciously decided to warm up over two halves of the pitch, trying to add mental dimension of pressure to their already formidable physical one. The game began slowly with the opposition using long balls to create end to end action before then releasing women’s football’s answer to Rory Delap, whose throw-ons frequently sailed over the box, troubling the somewhat vertically challenged blues defence and leaving it to goalkeeper Rachel Aldred to make an awesome save just 10 minutes into the game. Despite her efforts, there was nothing she could do about the next Worcester attempt. The ball was struck from some 25 yards out, catching her off her line and resulting in the first goal of the match.
Despite taking the lead, Worcester did not rest on their laurels. They then followed up the excellent long range first goal with another cheeky one from a well placed cross leaving the blues positively fuming.
However, from this point they picked up the tempo with solid defending from captain Kirsten Morris and great passing and movement from central midfielder Emma Dickinson leading to a dubious offside call after a brilliant finish from Eijiro or ‘Jij’ and an impressive effort from Sophie Le Marchand that just clipped the inside of the crossbar within 15 minutes.
However, the Blues found themselves steamrollered by a determined Worcester side for the last 20 minutes of the first half with a succession of well taken corners falling right by the goal line. Despite some excellent defending the pressure duly told, with one tapped in by a ruthless Worcester forward.
A header from Chrissie Murray off a high ball cleared a Worcester attack but sent her into a spectacular backwards roll, much to the amusement of the opposition team. It was rather emblematic of what can only be described as an unfortunate first half. Things went from bad to worse soon after with a strong Worcester run through midfield and a careless defensive error leading to another goal so that the score line stood rather unfairly at 4-0 at half time.
After a fiery and an inspired team talk from coach and ex-blues player Brett Burns the girls were raring to go in the second half, getting off to an impressive start. For the first ten minutes of the half the Blues dominated play and kept Worcester on their back foot and stuck firmly in their side of the pitch.
Oxford’s time finally came after a darting run down the right wing and stunning finishing with a powerful long range strike from winger Lucie Bowden which flew past the Worcester keepr putting Oxford on the score sheet. This glimmer of hope for the losing side inspired great pass and move football leading the Blues to dominate possession and keep the ball in Worcester’s half.
Yet once again despite some of the best pass and move football they had played all season the pressure could not be converted into goals and with Oxford over commited Worcester were able to add a fifth on the break.
Oxford though, were in no mood to roll over and be humiliated. Another run through Worcester’s strong defence and a clean pass from Sophie Le Marchand put Jij through for a one on one with the keeper, which was unfortunately called offside. Worcester gained a dubious free kick on the edge of the area resulting in another dazzling save from player of the match Rachel Aldred; who certainly did not deserve to concede as often as she did considering her commanding display and a string of high quality saves.
After more impressive set pieces from Oxford that left the tired Worcester team run ragged, they launched a lightning counter attack with winger Sophie Le Marchand taking on three of the defence with her extraordinary skills and assisting Jij in a shot that curved nicely into the back of the net in the closing minutes of the game.
Worcester evidently are a strong side and througholy merited their pre-match status as favourites. However the margin of the scoreline was clearly flattering on Oxford’s opponents, especially given the strength of the performance is the second half.
The Blues will regret the small few first half errors that allowed Worcester to take an unwarrented lead, meaning that when the Blues improved markedly after half time, they were rather over exposed at the back and thus Worcester were able to add two goals against the run of play on the break.
They will be hoping to reflect on the numerous positives from the game and realise that ultimately they will not have to play sides of Worcester’s quality every week.
