Slazenger were looking forward to their game against Chapeltown – having come close to getting a result on the last few games they knew this was their chance to capitalize on all the extra training and greatly appreciated help from Coaches Steve Wood and Dave Ellam. However Chapeltown, despite their position at the bottom of the league were determined to go down fighting and held a buoyant Slazenger team for the first 20 minutes, despite clearly struggling and had a few attacks on goal which the defence and goalkeeper Eleanor Townend capably dealt with.
However the constant Slaz pressure all over the pitch was soon to pay off – Hannah Field (on reduced payment rates now) put the ball in the back of the net from a short corner for Slaz to take the lead. Spurred on by this goal, Slaz continued to press the Chapeltown defence who seemed to struggle under the constant pressure, conceding several short corners in succession. Sarah Cooper, again from a well worked short corner made the score 2-0 in the home side’s favour much to the delight of the supporters on the sideline who, for a change had something to cheer for!
The half time talk was very different from usual with Slaz being pushed to attack and score more goals (whilst keeping a clean sheet of course) and for once they obliged. Player of the match Ailish Hendry scored after 15 minutes from yet another short corner, putting Chapeltown heads further down and Captain Helen Hough scored twice within 5 minutes to put the score at 5-0 and surely a vital win for Slaz. The game was sealed with a final goal in the last few minutes by Hannah Field again from a short corner to seal Chapeltown’s fate and a delighted Slazenger team celebrated their first win since Christmas.
Next game is again a vital showdown away against Wakefield, their nearest rivals both in terms of distance and in the table.
