The ladies hosted Barnsley Ladies on Sunday which saw the two teams meet for the 4th time this season. After a 2-2 draw in the league earlier on in the season and two close defeats in both the League & FA Cup, the ladies were looking to yet another close contest between the two sides.
The ladies were looking to bounce back from the midweek 2-1 defeat to York City, the close contested games score didn’t reflect the performance with the ladies unlucky not to come away with at least a point after a hard worked team performance.
The game started off brightly with Guiseley taking the majority of possesion, working the ball well out to Amy Parker & Faye Shipman on the wings. However the majority of play took place in the middle third with both teams defending well to limit chances at both ends. Jamie Lea Smith took her place at the centre of defence replacing the usual partnership of Danskin – Matthews due to an ankle injury picked up by Danskin in Tuesday’s game. However Smith settled in well forming a strong partnership with Matthews from the off. Abi Barker moved back to right back with Caroline Cropp at left back, both full backs working tirelessly to restrict the pressure from the high intense attacks down the wings with the back 5 working solidly as a unit.
Barnsley had their in form goalkeeper to thank with some great saves in the first half, halting Caroling Hulme’s increasing goal tally. Guiseley also had their goalkeeper to thank with some instinctive play limiting Barnsley’s timed runs from their attacking tactics and play.
HT 0 – 0
Both teams came out firing for the second half with Guiseley having a couple of early chances saved and veering just over the bar. Barnsley also had some near misses and some good chances that were dealth with by Boswell and the back four, Barnsley continuously pressing with a high volume of corners in comparison to Guiseleys tally of zero corners throughout the game.
The game was end to end stuff right up until the death with Barnsley looking to be having the better part of possession with a flood of attacks, Smith and Matthews working tirelessly along with Boswell to protect their clean sheet. Orla Haslam made way for Abi Garland in midfield and gave the side some fresh legs, Haslam working well to get into the Barnsley box setting up Hulme who shot just wide. The game was brought to a close with the final score a rare 0-0 draw.
Man of the match – Erin Boswell
Manager Liam Kelly reflected on the performance : –
‘It was a good performance by all once again. On Tuesday the performance was there, but we didn’t get anything from it, today we got a point for our hard work.
We’re at the business end now, and this is another point to add to the tally. This has been our focus and we’ve got good momentum now. We’ve got our own performance targets and we’re working towards them game by game
I think at this point of the season you want to be just accumulating points we’ve shown great character, mentality and quality in our last 5 games to pick up 2 wins, 2 draws and the one loss and the players deserve the credit for that
We know hard work pays off, you only have to look at the likes of Boswell, who has put so much in to her development since way back in July and is now reaping them rewards, absolutely thrilled for her today with the clean sheet. Kicking massive improvement, shot stopping is up there with the best in the League and positioning just keeps getting better with more games. This girl is a model to what hard work and commitment can achieve.
2013 is going well for us, where just going to keep playing Football and enjoying what we do and see where we end up come May”
Next Sunday the ladies travel to Whitley Bay – KO 2pm, after a thrilling 4-3 win in the home tie earlier on this year the ladies will be looking to work their way further up the table with only 4 games remaining.
