The Ladies were once again without a number of key players for the trip to Frenchfields but Jade returned to the centre of defence.
The opening minutes were fairly even but then Newlaithes started to take control. They had a number of chances to take the lead and Faye was unlucky when she attacked a corner from the right but her header crashed against the bar. It looked like 'one of those days' until Faye burst through the Penrith defence after 19 minutes to score a brilliant solo goal. Two minutes later and it was two - Claire made an excellent run off the ball that opened up space in the Penrith defence for Faye to dribble her way through and score her 2nd. After 26 minutes Chelsea intercepted a ball in midfield and threaded the ball through to Laura W who made no mistake with her left-footed shot. A minute later, Jemma won the ball in midfield and put Faye through to complete her 2nd hat-trick in consecutive matches. Newlaithes continued to pressure but they wasted several good chances until the 40th minute when Faye set up Claire on the 6 yard box; the keeper saved Claire's shot but she followed up well to scramble the ball over the line for a well deserved goal. The score remained 5-0 at half-time.
Penrith were strengthened in the second half by the introduction of a number of 1st team players who had been listed on the team-sheet and had become available due to their match being postponed. Newlaithes confidence seemed to take a bit of a knock as immediately, Penrith started to play some nice little one-two's. However Newlaithes defended well and once again Abbie had little to do in goal. Penrith finally made a breakthrough as Chelsie Browbank attacked down the left. She hit a stinging low shot but Abbie was equal to it and got her body behind the ball well to save at the expense of a corner. Newlaithes' confidence began to return as the match progressed and they came close with several efforts. Five minutes from time, a rare defensive error allowed Chelsie Browbank the time and space to pick her spot and score with an excellent lob that gave Abbie no chance. The action continued right to the final whistle but the score remained 5-1 to Newlaithes.
This was another good win for the Ladies which was as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests - especially on the first-half performance although they were guilty of wasting a number of gilt-edged chances that they should have converted. The Newlaithes players' self-belief took a slight knock at half-time with the introduction of the Penrith 1st team players but at the same time, it stiffened their resolve and the longer the game went on, it was still Newlaithes who had the better of the chances.
There were a number of excellent performances by the Newlaithes players - Chelsea did a good marking job to dampen the pacy threat of Chelsie Browbank, Tasha was immense in midield, Pat caused all kinds of problems on the right and of course Faye took the Penrith defence apart with another dynamite performance. However player of the match was Sarah C for another strong, alert and assured performance at the heart of the defence.
A great start to the season Ladies - now let's build on it!!
