London & SE Regional Women’s League, Premier Division
Sunday 27th August 2023 on the 3G Community pitch, Princes Park
Joint Managers: Connor Dymond & Martin McCarthy; Physio Geoff Williamson
Team: Jade Charlton, Emily Read, Jo Woodgates, Georgie Davis, Shannon Wason, Chana Hinds,
Lizzie Adams, Gemma Shepherd, Emily Vaughan, Nicha Dyett, Shauni Griffiths
Subs: Molly Hawkins; (Gabriella Howell, Kaylee Shurety, Charlie Torry – subs but not used)
Darts’ scorers: Nicha Dyett, Emily Vaughan
As early as the 3rd minute Fulham nearly threw away a goal when their goalkeeper made a hash of a clearance which fell to Emily Vaughan, about 40 yards out, who struck an instinctive lob back towards goal, but with the goalie scrambling to get back it just missed its mark.
Six minutes later Shauni Griffiths tried to get a ball through for Gemma Shepherd but the goalie was quickly out to mop up and in the next attack Gemma played a nice one-two with Nicha but was intercepted at the death, but in the next move the same two were involved in the move that brought about Darts’ opening goal.
In the 12th minute, Gemma played a beautiful through pass to Nicha just inside the penalty box who took a stride forward and struck the ball low past the goalie, who managed to get the feintest of touches to it, but not enough to prevent it from entering the goal. 1-0
Three minutes a Fulham striker put in a great jiggling run across the Dartford penalty box and put in a great shot that rattled Darts’ crossbar and rebounded to safety.
During this opening 15 minute spell both sides provided good levels of skill with accurate passing and good chances on goal. Nicha was then unceremoniously pushed in the back and the resultant free-kick by Georgie Davis reached Lizzie Adams who managed to get in a’ snap-shot’ that was charged down and Fulham made a quick break but fortunately Chana was alert to the danger and ‘swept-up’ at the back.
On 20 minutes, Emily Read pulled off a great stop on a Fulham charge towards her penalty area as Fulham began to get more possession and put some pressure on the Darts’ defence. But then in the next minute Emily Vaughan played a beautiful defence-splitting pass to Nicha who hit it first time which just failed to hit the target.
On 27 minutes and another good opportunity came when a throw-in near the Darts’ ‘dug-out’ from Georgie Davis found Emily Vaughan who turned and played the ball central for Nicha but the ball ran too fast and the goalie intercepted and then in the following move a forceful header from Shannon penetrated Fulham’s defence found Gemma who played to Shauni who then played a delightful ball into the six-yard box that travelled across the goal-mouth with Nicha and a defender stretching to get a toe on the ball.
Then came Darts’ second goal; a very powerful clearance from Jo Woodgates – something nearing 50-60-yards – fell for Nicha who, despite the attention of a defender managed to put the ball on a plate for Emily Vaughan right in front of goal to score Darts’ second.
Fulham weren’t looking a poor side, but their defence had been caught ‘square’ and somewhat flat-footed twice now.
Another poor clearance from the goalie allowed Lizzie Adams to attempt a quick-fir, long-range lob towards the goal but missed by only a small amount.
Darts’ should have capitalised a bit more from a series of poor kicks from the goalie, but by-and-large, the goalie wasn’t punished for her mistakes.
HT 2-0
Ten minutes into the second half it looked certain that Fulham would score. It took a point-blank fast-reaction save from Jade Charlton to keep Darts two-goal lead intact, the ball going for a corner. But the resultant corner was delivered brilliantly just under the bar at the far post that had ‘goal’ written all over it. This brought the scoreline to 2-1
Five minutes later Fulham had a good chance with a free-kick just outside the penalty area, but with Darts’ lining up with a ‘three-man’ wall the shot was skied far too high and was certainly a let-off for the Darts.
As the game progressed Emily Read, Chana Hinds, Jo Woodgates and Georgie Davis were all forced into last-ditch tackles or interceptions as they stemmed the Fulham onslaught, being re-vitalised after pulling that goal back.
The introduction of Molly Hawkins in place of Emily Vaughan gave the Darts more width on the right and it meant that Fulham had to be resolute themselves in case of conceding a breakaway goal and the last twenty minutes had a real ‘cup-tie’ feel to it and a classic battle was the result of two teams eager to win the three points.
In many respects, this had a similar feel and outcome as the opening game of the season versus Dulwich Hamlet, where Darts had surged into a two-goal lead in the first-half only to be met by a strong fightback in the 2nd phase with the pulling back of one goal and then really what amounted to a resolute stand by the Dartford defence.
Fulham were probably worthy of a point, as were Hamlet, but by getting the two-goal advantage in both games, Darts forged important wins that took them to the top of the league with two wins out of two – and no-one can argue with that. Goals win games and Darts’ got the goals.
Player of the Match was awarded to Emily Read
Report by Tony Brown
Photo by Alex (ABC Video)