Somerset County Women’s League division one: Wellington Wildcats 3, Bath City Ladies Development 0
Wildcats continued their winning run and moved up into second with victory over Bath at the Playing Field.
With Bath winning the toss and electing to play down the slope in the first half, Wildcats knew it would be a tough start to the match.
Bath began the brighter team, looking to thread the ball through the home defence at every opportunity, however their attack was unable to read the excellent line of Wildcats’ back four and were offside on every occasion.
The boggy pitch hindered Wildcats’ usual fluent style of football and they were unable to bring wide players Robyn Stockman and Chloe Payne into the game as much as they would have liked.
The closest Wildcats came to a goal was a deflected Ebony Sellick shot which hit the upright while the City keeper made two good stops from Stockman. Half-time 0-0
The second half was barely three minutes old when Wildcats took the lead. Stockman latched on to a clearance from Bryony Sellick and threaded a fine ball through to Leah Morrell who raced clear of her defender to smash past the keeper.
This was the catalyst for Wildcats to push on and they had a flurry of chances; Keeley Coates narrowly missed out with a lob, Charlotte Ayers and Georiga Purdy both had mid-range efforts go the wrong side of the crossbar while Ebony Sellick had an very good effort well saved at the near post.
At the other end, City were being well marshalled by the Wildcats defence who were never tested with any realconviction. Ebony Sellick squashed any lingering hopes Bath City had when she calmly lifted the ball over their keeper’s head after a perfectly weighted pass from Purdy.
As the clocked ticked into injury time, Coates dummied an excellent Emily Ayers corner, giving the Bath defender no time to adjust her feet and she ended up smashing the ball into the roof of her own net.
Wildcats’ player of the day, selected by Reserves team manager Mark Owen who sponsored the match, was Georgia Purdy (pictured with Geoff Hamlyn).
Team: Bianca Hamlyn, Bryony Sellick, Emily Ayers, Tenika Goss, Grace Winter, Robyn Stockman, Charlotte Ayers, Georgia Purdy, Chloe Payne, Leah Morrell, Ebony Sellick. Substitutes: Keeley Coates, Grayson Kennard, Christina Seaborne used); Imogen Edmondston-Low (not used).
On Sunday, Wildcats entertain Frome Town Ladies in their final home game of 2024.
All support will be welcome – kick-off at 2pm.I’m
