Carlisle Women's 2s vs Chorley Phoenix 1s

With a 10am push back in Chorley and an early start it took the Carlisle 2s a few minutes to get into the game, but bursts of energy from Blythe Jackson, Nic Heeley, Rose Dunning and Jess Evans driving the ball through midfield to upfront gave the Cumbrian's the jump start they needed and it wasn’t long before they were rewarded with a short corner.

Leah Shearer then converted a deflection from the short, sending the ball flying into the backboard of the goal. Now on the scoreboard, everyone was fully switched on and hungry for the win.

Chorley fought back, eager not to let the game get away from them, and equalised not long after with a lucky outfield goal.

This didn’t dishearten the Cumbrians and, using team work and speed, they worked the ball around the back via Claire Bastiman, Debs Dunning, Kath Illidge and Rosie Middleton until the opportunity arose to push forward, linking up through midfield and then onto upfront. Lucy Brown then put pressure on the Chorley defence, forcing a penalty and another short for Carlisle 2s!

Nic Heeley injected the ball perfectly to Kath Illidge at the top of the D who then sent it hurtling to Rose Dunning who had flown onto the right post. Quick thinking and fabulous decision making, Rose saw that the Chorley goal keeper now had the right post covered and passed it back to Leah Shearer on the penalty spot who scored again and put Carlisle 2s back in the lead.

With not long to go until half time everyone dug deep; Hannah Mackay made some fantastic clearances up the right side, Jenny Kirton demonstrated her gymnastics as a goal keeper making some great saves, and Claire Bastiman saved a ball on the line…showing for another week running that she’ll do anything to keep goals from being scored!

Unfortunately, a loose ball saw Chorley awarded a short corner and a clean strike from the top of the D saw them equalise again as the umpire called for the half time break.

Captain Debs Dunning used the break to keep the team motivated and the Carlisle 2s came back stronger than ever.

Nic Heeley kept things intense in the centre of the pitch, Kath Illidge kept hassling and winning tackles, and Blythe Jackson removed key Chorley players from the game, all allowing for Carlisle breaks.

This led to link ups along the wings between Jess Evans, Lucy Brown, Leah Shearer and Rose Dunning…another goal was coming.

With one of her Usain Bolt style dashes down the right hand side, Rose Dunning sent the ball into the D to Lucy Brown who slapped the ball into the back of the goal and the Cumbrians were rewarded yet again.

Determined to equalise once more, Chorley kept their heads up and it paid off with an unstoppable top bins strike into Jenny Kirtons goal.

Carlisle, however, were not leaving Chorley with anything less than a win and kept going as they had been doing. They kept the press tight and this combined with Kath Illidge’s ‘never give up’ attitude and strong balls into the D kept the pressure on.

Rose Dunning then ran the ball into the D and onto Leah Shearer on the left post, it was a fourth goal for Carlisle, third assist for Rose, and a hat-trick for Leah.

The Cumbrians were in the lead again, the score was 4-3, and they weren’t going to let it go.

Defence and midfield managed the game for the final ten minutes, focusing on solid and cool-as-a-cucumber passing to keep the ball out of the oppositions grasp until the final whistle was blown. Carlisle 2s could celebrate their first win of the season, in a new league, and it felt even better knowing the hard work that's been put in over the last few weeks to get to this point!

Congratulations to Rose Dunning who was our Player of the Match this week!