Much Ado About Nothing Nothing

There was no faulting the endeavour on either side but in the end the eagerly awaited rematch between Fareham Ladies' 1s and Trojans ended in stalemate on Saturday as neither side was able to register a goal.

Fareham can take plenty of credit from a match in which they were missing some significant players but were able to match their opponents all the way. With Tara Lemon forced to sit this one out due to injury and with Katie Paxman and Isabel Austin also unavailable, it was a small Fareham squad of 14 players. There were however two notable names on the team sheet. Lauren Beagrie made a welcome first appearance of the season after the birth of her son in January and the game also marked the first team debut of Imogen Lewis who settled in quickly and showed a lot of promise for the future.

On the whole it was not a game with an abundance of goalscoring opportunities and it always looked like it might take something special, or fortunate, to beat either of the two very good goalkeepers.

Trojans made most of the early running and won half of their six penalty corners in the first ten minutes without really threatening to open the scoring. Kiran Kaur came closest to breaking the deadlock with a shot from a penalty corner which was comfortably dealt with by Sophia Barclay. In the final five minutes the home side found their rhythm and spent most of the time in the Trojans half.

In contrast to the opening period it was Fareham who had the bulk of possession in the 2nd quarter. A nice move involving Alicia Caillard and Alice Lander ended with the latter’s cross providing a half chance for Sarah Atkinson at the near post.

Good work by Gracie Coleman set up the first Fareham penalty corner and it was her shot from a rebound which was kicked clear for another PC.

Trojans had a brief spell of action just outside the Fareham ‘D’ without offering much of a threat and in the final minute of the half it was the home side who had the final chance. Gracie Coleman intercepted the ball in her own half and played a long pass through to Hollie Smith who couldn’t get away an early shot and was eventually forced wide by the keeper before running out of room.

When play resumed after the break Amy Sheehan, the Trojans captain, had the first chance in the 39th minute with a turn and shot from just inside the area but Sophia had no trouble dealing with the effort and kicked clear.

What would turn out to be Fareham’s best chance came in the 45th minute. Alicia Caillard’s quick diagonal pass into the ‘D’ was met by Gracie Coleman who diverted the ball back towards the far corner but Anna Morley in the Trojans goal was able to turn the effort away at full stretch with a good save. It began a period of sustained Fareham pressure with a series of PCs. Aimee Timms had a shot which caught a foot near the post which looked worth a shout for a penalty stroke but the umpires had a better angle and another penalty corner had to suffice. Gracie had another shot on goal from the subsequent PC but the keeper was able to stop the attempt and the ball was cleared.

In the closing minutes of the quarter play was end to end. Amy Sheehan had another opportunity following a quick break but her reverse shot once again failed to beat Sophia who saved with her foot.

Leah Payne had a strong run into the ‘D’ which led to another half chance for Gracie Coleman but the final opportunity of the quarter fell to the visitors. Kiran Kaur intercepted a pass near the half way line and broke towards the Fareham ‘D’ before crossing to a team mate in the area who was denied, firstly by the whistle to end the quarter but also by the outstretched arm of Sophia who moved quickly to her left to deal with the threat.

The 4th quarter began with a good move by the hosts. Sarah Atkinson had a powerful run down the right and found Poppy Rodis who set up a difficult opportunity for Hollie Smith at the far post which led to the first of three Fareham PCs.

It was probably not surprising that both sides matched each other with six penalty corners each but oddly they all came in clusters with Trojans handed another hat trick of set piece opportunities in the next few minutes. Amy Sheehan had a shot from the first of these which was repelled with a strong kick by Sophia who once again was on hand to block a shot, this time by Megan Biggs, from the final corner.

With the game moving into the final five minutes it was a characteristically strong Fareham finish. Sarah Atkinson had the final opportunity for the hosts when her shot was cleared by the keeper. Even then the game was not quite over but the final whistle came with Trojans on the edge of the Fareham area.

It was an entertaining contest which could have gone either way but neither side was able to find a breakthrough. The draw was the third in a row for Fareham. Although we haven’t been able to find that elusive win we have now drawn seven times which is more than any other team across the four conference divisions this season and is only one shy of the all-time women’s conference record. The good news was that the point was enough to move us off the bottom of the table for the first time since October as we have now overtaken Basingstoke. Whatever happens in the final two matches we will be wanting to remain in 9th place. We play our final home league game of the season next Saturday against Cheltenham (13.30). We drew 1-1 with them away so it would be great if we could finish at home by going one better this time.