The Ladies were expecting a tough game at Dalton and they weren't disappointed on a cold, murky, misty afternoon.
Newlaithes kicked-off facing uphill on a considerable slope and it didn't take Dalton long to take advantage. With less than 2 minutes on the clock, a Dalton player picked up the ball midway inside the Newlaithes half. Inexplicably, the entire Newlaithes defence backed off and allowed her to attack the space. She slipped a nice ball to a team mate on her right and she out-paced the defence to fire into the bottom corner. Newlaithes battled back quickly and on 5 minutes Danni shook off her marker to shoot across goal. Katie O ran in to hammer the ball home but unfortunately she was adjudged off-side. Both teams battled hard but Dalton always looked that little bit sharper and on 10 minutes a dreadful clearance to the left of the Newlaithes defence went straight to a Dalton forward who blasted an unstoppable piledriver from just outside the box which flew in at the far post. Newlaithes nuckled down and despite the slope, were taking the game to Dalton but all too often they let themselves down with some bad touches at the vital moment. At the other end Dalton kept Newlaithes keeper Lauren busy with several efforts and they almost increased their lead as half time approached when an attempted long-range lob thundered off the bar but the score remained 2-0 at half time.
Despite Newlaithes having the slope advantage, it was Dalton who started the 2nd half brightly and they took the game to Newlaithes with some quality passing. Newlaithes were attacking on the break but as with the first half, there was a lack of quality at the vital moment. On 55 minutes last season's top scorer Faye came on for Danni and almost immediately, caused Dalton to concede a free kick midway into the Dalton half. Paige floated in an excellent ball to the far post but nobody attacked it and the danger was gone. Paige and Claire were working their socks off in midfield while Cathy worked tirelessly up front. At the back, Tasha in particular threw everything into the game but no sooner had she won possession, then Newlaithes would lose it again and put themselves under pressure. Undoubtedly Dalton's sheers quickness was causing Newlaithes problems but Newlaithes weren't clicking as a team. A perfect example of this led to Dalton's 3rd goal on 68 minutes. The Newlaithes midfield surged forward to join the forwards in attack but the defence was slow to follow. This left acres of space in the middle and when Newlaithes lost the ball deep in the Dalton half, Dalton took advantage with some crisp, quality passing to work the ball up the pitch resulting in an excellent solo finish. Still Newlaithes continued to battle and Faye came close several times while at the other end, Lauren continued to perform heroics in the Newlaithes goal to keep the score down. Dalton did get the ball over the line but they were ruled off-side. However on 84 minutes they got their fourth when they took advantage of some poor marking to finish from close range after a good break into the right hand side of the area. Final score 4-0.
The result was no more than Dalton deserved. Both teams seemed to be fairly evenly matched in many ways and certainly Newlaithes gave Dalton a battle royal in terms of effort and determination. Yet Dalton were that little bit sharper, quick to pressure and they passed the ball consistently well whereas Newlaithes let themselves down with some inconsistent passing, slack marking at times and failure to close down space. Certainly Lauren was far busier in the Newlaithes goal than the Dalton keeper, who was forced to make several saves but Newlaithes didn't test her anything like enough, particularly in the 2nd half when they had the slope advantage.
The Dalton manager nominated Paige as player of the match but Claire in midfield and Tasha at the heart of the defence also put in a superb shift so they share the joint player of the match award with a special mention to Cathy, Lauren and Katie O who were not too far behind.
So - plenty to work on before the return fixture next Sunday at Rickerby Park, 11:30 kick-off.
