Enfield Town Ladies ended their away fixture with a draw under trying conditions on Good Friday. Sara Sinclair gave Enfield a lead in the first half before Rebecca Laporte was sent off with Jemma Smythe levelling the scores after the break. Enfield also had captain Claire Gooch carried off after dislocating her knee. Enfield manager John Abbott said “We were already struggling with some of the officials’ decisions but we had taken the lead and looked comfortable against Norwich but the sending off just made it more difficult, I am extremely proud that my team kept to their task and continued to play football.” Enfield climbed back up to 2nd place with only one home game left to play.
After a nightmare journey and only a few minutes to prepare Enfield didn’t have the best of starts but were still untroubled except for a free kick by Paige Shorten that flew over the bar but when they finally put together their first attack as Sheree Oliver lofted a ball forward as Nicola Carty and two defenders allowed the ball to bounce over them Sara Sinclair took advantage by racing onto the loose ball and lifting it over the onrushing Norwich keeper and into the vacant net. 0-1 (11 min)
Enfield almost doubled their lead just a minute later as a ball on by Emma Thomas was helped on by Carty to Sinclair only for the ball to run loose as a defender and the keeper got in a muddle. A punt forward by a Norwich defender saw a forward try to reach it but Enfield keeper Jo Ayre headed it clear from outside her area and Beth Bygrave was well wide of the target as she tried to send it back over Ayre. Sinclair won the ball on the sideline and as she was going across the field a clever reverse pass through the defence sent Thomas in but Holly Clarke was quickly out of her area to clear it. Hayley Peverley chased a long ball and elected to shoot to Ayre when she had a team mate clear in the middle.
Sinclair battle for the ball in the corner and then laid it back to Thomas who slid in a pass down the side of the defence for Beth Lovell but Lovell shot wide. Gemma Farmer passed to Shorten who had her back to goal but a smart turn wasn’t matched by the shot that went wide of Ayer’s goal. Sinclair and Carty combined for Rebecca Laporte who shot over the bar and then Kerrie Marlborough who was backing up the attack intercepted a clearance and hit a dipping shot that Clarke had to save. Kelly Hughes and Lovell saw Sinclair shoot over after their work set her up. The latest moment of controversy in a game littered with them saw Laporte react after another foul from behind and after both her and Jemma Smythe had squared up and shoved each other The Enfield player was sent off with no action taken against Smythe until after complaints from the Enfield bench the ref had a quick word with the player!!
Deep into added time Thomas took a free kick from on the edge of the area and although she got the ball around the wall it didn’t curve enough to get inside the post with the keeper well beaten.
Sinclair shot narrowly over under pressure from Smythe in the opening minute of the second half and Thomas floated a free kick in the Sinclair headed against a defender with the keeper flat footed and once again beaten. Disaster struck for Enfield as Captain Claire Gooch stretch to block a goal bound shot in doing so dislocated her knee which resulted in her being carried off. Unbelievably the referee and the home bench wanted the game restarted as three Enfield players were helping to carry their captain off which meant Enfield only had 6 players on the pitch.
Enfield continued to press on and Fran Boggi and Lovell combined to get in a cross that Clarke snatched off Sinclair’s head. A diagonal cross saw Nic Bray sneak in around the back of the Enfield defence but Ayre dived low to her right to push the ball around the post. A dangerous cross by Bray was headed up into the air by Marlborough which allowed Ayre to catch it as it dropped.
Bray tumbled under a challenge from Marlborough on the edge of the area close to the goal line and when Shorten took the kick it was met by Smythe at the far post with a firm header into the net. 1-1 (75 min)
Enfield had a member of their bench staff sent away by the referee for complaining about a yet another non-decision but Enfield held out easily until the 7th minute of added time when a desperate lunge by a defender blocked one goal bound effort back to Shorten who over hit a cross that a team mate still managed to head goalwards but Marlborough headed it out straight to a Norwich player who simply flicked the ball into the hands of a grateful Jo Ayre.
Enfield Town M.O.M. was Sheree Oliver who had a great game in midfield until she stepped back into defence to cover when Claire Gooch was carried off and stood out there as well.
Enfield Town Team; Ayre, Oliver, Boggi, Hughes, Gooch © (Mabey), Marlborough, Thomas, Lovell, Carty, Laporte, Sinclair. Unused subs; Panayiotou, McNeil.
Norwich City Team; Clarke, Thacher, Larkins, Farman, Parsons, Smythe, Bygrave, Peverley, Bray, Drake, Shorten. Subs; Rennie, Fletcher, Burton, Manthorpe, Smith.
Enfield Town have to wait until 25/04/2010 for their last home league game when they are due to host Ipswich Town and they still await the semi final draw for the Isthmian League Women’s Cup.
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