Lincoln United Women were beaten 1-3 by Sutton Coldfield Town in their FAWNL Division One Midlands game at Ashby Avenue on Sunday, making this their fifth loss in a row.
First half struggles
The Whites faced a struggling Royals side who came into the fixture just three points above the drop zone. Joint-top goal-scorers Reia Henry and Chloe Dann both started for the visitors – with plans of turning their teams’ luck around.
Lincoln got pen to paper with five new signings last week; Holly Fowler, Olivia James and Ella Tuplin were introduced to make their first league starts for the Whites. Lauren Churcher and Tilly Fantom were unavailable for the game.
It only took 15 minutes for the first goal of the afternoon to be fired in. Reia Henry put the visitors ahead after she was found unmarked at the back post, making no mistake with her header from five yards out.
The Whites fashioned a few half-chances in the remainder of the first 45’ – Bella Bogg’s free-kick effort narrowly missed the target, just clipping the side netting on the way past – but nothing that worried the Royals’ keeper.
Sutton Coldfield soon doubled their advantage in the 35th minute; Mill Kirk met Katelyn Smith’s corner and after a bit of pin-balling around, the ball was in the back of the Whites net for the second time.
Lucy Farrow had a huge chance to claw one back for the home side five minutes before half-time. After getting the better of the three Royals defenders, she was left one-on-one with the keeper – but the striker just couldn’t keep her effort low enough to test the keeper.
The visitors weren’t done in their first half endeavours however – Henry got her brace from a stoppage time corner to give the Royals a 0-3 advantage heading into the break.
Second half sorrow
It was another strong start to proceedings for the hosts in the second period. Chances fell for Tuplin and Millar in the first ten minutes, but again, nothing that forced any action from the Sutton Coldfield keeper.
The Whites were knocking on the door as we approached the hour mark – Tuplin’s pass found Farrow on the edge of the box and her resulting effort forced Neve Jones to make a diving save down to her right.
Farrow’s last chance of the game would come from a free-kick effort; her 30-yard attempt on goal sailed over the bar causing the visitors no worries.
The reward came for the Whites; a consolation goal – but a goal, nonetheless. In the dying minutes, substitutes, Izzy Hayward and Amanda Millar linked up to claw one back on the scoresheet for the home side. A perfectly weighted through ball from Hayward gave Millar the chance to slot her effort into the far corner.
As the final whistle blew, it was the Royals that took the three points back to the West Midlands after a hard-fought contest between the two sides. Positives to take for a Lincoln side that created a lot of chances; but just struggled to convert.
Post match thoughts…
Lincoln boss, Alex Brito Nogueira said that: “The first half was made up of silly mistakes, we had several opportunities to score as well… we need to score more.
“Today is another defeat, I’m not naïve about it, but that was the first time since joining Lincoln that I honestly feel that we played as a team with an idea behind us”.
Player of the Match – Ella Tuplin.