London & SE Regional League, Premier Division, played on Sunday15th October 2023 at
Princes Park Community 3G
Team: Jade Charlton, Charlie Torry, Jo Woodgates, Georgie Davis, Meghan McKeag, Lizzie Adams, Paris Smith, Hannah Thomas, Emily Read, Emily Vaughan, Nicha Dyett
Subs: (all used) – Shannon Wason, Shauni Griffiths, Amy Reader, Gabby Howell, Molly Smith
Scorers: Emily Vaughan(3), Nicha Dyett, Shannon Wason, Shauni Griffiths, Charlie Torry
As early as the 2nd minute Darts had their first chance. From a free-kick for a push on Emily Vaughan, Jo Woodgates took a short pass to the left for Meghan and she put over a super cross that completely caught the goalie out who frantically tried to tip the ball over but fortunately for Sutton the cross skimmed the top of the bar and out to safety.
On 8 minutes, a lovely through-ball set Nicha away and the keeper came out but found herself in no-man’s land and Nicha Dyett got the touch that sent the ball rolling goalwards. A defender frantically tried to clear the ball off the line but didn’t make a good enough job of it and the goal was Nicha’s. Nicha received a knock in the challenge with the ‘keeper but happily recovered and resumed play.
1-0
A couple of minutes later, Sutton produced the highest kick of the day when a hooked ball was sent skywards towards Jade’s goal. By the time it came down, (with a lot of back-spin on it) a Sutton striker had reached it close-in on the Dartford goal and only a good save by Jade prevented the equaliser.
The Sutton defence were quite indecisive on a few occasions and presented Darts with a few opportunities and half-chances which Sutton just about got away with lightly. On 13 minutes Hannah Thomas produced a great through-ball for Emily Vaughan but the ball sped just too fast into the goalie’s arms and the chance was gone.
Then Nicha won the ball in the centre circle and Emily Read took over with a snap-shot, spotting the goalie off her line, but her effort was just too high, and then another long-range effort, this time from Paris, was just off the mark.
On 22 mins, a good tackle from Nicha robbed a defender and the ball was squeezed out to Emily Read who got over another of her accurate crosses but Nicha couldn’t quite get a full-bloodied shot in and much to the keeper’s relief it went wide of the goal. Next, Lizzie Adams got a pass out to Emily Read who once again got a great cross over into the box but this time was strongly headed away.
Darts were certainly trying to vary their attacks, and with a bit more luck could have added to their score. On 27 minutes, another push in the back on Emily Vaughan brought Darts another free-kick. Jo placed the kick into the area, but once again an almost 50:50 ball whistled through to the keeper with Emily Vaughan and Nicha closing in.
On the half-hour mark the game fell momentarily into a rather drab affair for five or more minutes, but then Jo fed a great ball through to the penalty area and the ball bounced nicely, but Emily Vaughan couldn’t quite get just the slightest of nicks that would probably have been enough to beat the keeper who had already committed herself.
Darts began to step it up a bit and such was the eagerness to find the second goal, that on two occasions in quick succession Darts had two players flagged up for offside decisions
Emily Read lost out in a tackle with their No 8, who then made a surging run through Darts’ midfield. Em chased and chased her across field until she finally won the ball back just as their No 8 was approaching Darts’ penalty area. This showed so much character and determination that is in this Darts’ side.
On 35 minutes, a good ball through for Nicha was laid off nicely into the path of Emily Vaughan who calmly rounded the goalie and placed it firmly into the net for Darts’ second goal.
Darts’ now tried to peg Sutton into their final third of the pitch and would have fully deserved a third goal but wasn’t to be, even though Paris fired in a great 30-yard shot that only just whizzed over the bar. Right on the stroke of half-time Jade must have had a lapse in concentration and allowed Sutton to score a soft goal.
HT 2-1
Darts came out all guns blazing and in the 2nd minute a quick throw-in on the right found Emily Vaughan who neatly flicked it on for Nicha. She chased hard for the ball which looked likely to go out of play, and all the time being ‘hounded’ by a defender, but still, with great determination and persistence kept it in play and managed to send over a beautiful cross into the box. A defender deflected the ball into the path of Emily Vaughan, just a yard further out from the penalty spot who hit a great shot over the goalie’s head, which she managed to parry, but due to its ferocity the ball carried on over the line for Darts’ third. 3-1
A couple of minutes later Sutton tried raising their game and tried a long high and deep cross that was possibly heading in for a goal but Jade plucked this one out of the air with confidence.
Nicha played a nice ‘give-and-go’ for Em to take a stride forward before shooting but just failed to hit the target and the goalie, once again, was relieved to see it go wide of the post.
In the 57th minute Shauni fed a nice pass into the path of Lizzie but the goalie pulled off a remarkable save to keep the score down to 3-1, but then four minutes later Charlie Torry began and finished the move for Darts’ fourth. Charlie played a neat ball down to Nicha who won a corner. Meghan played a short corner to Emily Read and received it back, and sent over an inch-perfect cross into the goalmouth and was met by a thunderous header from Charlie for her 2nd goal of the season to make it 4-1.
A minute or so later, Darts’ very nearly conceded a second goal. Charlie Torry played the ball back to Jade, that was a bit too short, and Jade kicked the ball clear but it ricocheted off a striker and the ball shot across the goalmouth and clear of the right-hand post. This was a bit of a let off for the Darts.
Darts hadn’t finished with their scoring though and on 70 minutes, a neat turn from Emily Vaughan played a great ball out to Emily Read, Em’s cross found Shauni whose shot was well saved by the keeper but the ball ran kindly to Emily Vaughan, standing about 15 yards out who powered in her shot into the bottom left-hand corner to make it 5-1
A corner to Sutton on their left was whipped in with great accuracy and Jade did extremely well to tip it over the bar. It was destined to be going in directly from the corner. Then from the resultant corner Meghan was called upon to get it away close to the right-hand post.
On 82 minutes, Jo played up to Meghan who in turn got it through to Shauni who played a beautiful through-ball to Molly Smith, on her first team debut, who sent in a great shot but was brilliantly saved by the keeper. Great cheers came from the Dartford Development side players who were willing-on Molly to score.
From the resultant corner the ball came over and Shannon on the edge of the box tried her luck one way then the other to create room for a great shot that gave their keeper no chance. This was Shannon’s first goal for the club, and boy, did she celebrate!
The goal scoring was rounded off in the 90th minute when a lovely flicked header on from Amy Reader, found Shauni and she lobbed the keeper who got her fingertips to it but not enough to save the goal.
SUMMARY
Sutton Utd on the face of it didn’t have a lot to offer but did manage to create four good chances to score. But to get it into context Darts created at least ten and scored seven of them and if it wasn’t for an excellent display by their keeper, Darts’ score might have been even greater.
In the possession stakes, Sutton really only had a couple of five-or-ten minutes play where they had some possession, whereas Darts had long periods of running the game, especially in the second half. Darts created chances with a diversity of passes, through-balls and crosses that Sutton, on the day just couldn’t handle.
Emily Vaughan’s hat-trick earned her Player of the Match but she was also the key when Darts needed to hold up play whilst the other strikers got into good positions and with Em’s deft flicks and touches she was a handful for the Sutton defence who never really got to grips with her control and finishing.
Report by Tony Brown
Photos by Taur Everard
Sorry Em, I haven't had any photos of your hat-trick through yet!