Written by
Monday, September 7th, 2009
Rotherham started life in the Midland Combination League with tough fought
4-3 defeat at the hands of Coventry (Copsewood) away last Sunday.
The home side started the stronger and managed to stretch visitors defence
across the pitch on the break, and looked dangerous in early attacks.
Once Rotherham got use to the pace of their new league they began to press
forward and early chances fell to both Helen Lynskey and Hayley Wood but
both spurned good opportunities.
Coventry took the lead after sloppy defending from a corner, allowed the
home side to scrape in a shot after the ball "pin balled" around waiting for
someone to either clear or score, and the latter happened.
Rotherham struck back quickly through Hayley Wood but Coventry retained
their lead just before halftime and Rotherham went in just the one goal
behind.
The second half started with Coventry again hitting Rotherham quickly and
dangerously and it wasn't a surprise when they lengthened their lead to 3-1
after another sloppy bout of defending allowed the home side to calmly slot
home.
Rotherham lost midfielder Rachael Rutherford with a leg injury, that later
needed a visit to the hospital, and after "regrouping" they pressed forward
to try and recover. They succeeded half way into the second half after Kerry
Longstone calmly slotted a penalty after Hayley Wood was brought down.
Thinking that a come back was on the cards, Rotherham went for the equaliser
and agonisingly saw a hayley Wood effort go inches wide of the goal.
As happened for most of the game, Rotherham's defence was at fault for
Coventry's fourth but a late rally and third goal scored by Helen Lynskey,
ensured that it was an exiting finsh but Coventry held out to win 4-3.
Manager's comment:
I was disappointed in the score line and especially in the way we defended
as three of the four goal were "gimmes" and we have to learn not to give
"soft" goals away so easily.
This league may not have the style and ability of the national League but
what they do is work damn hard from the moment that the whistle is blown to
start, and then right up to the finish.
We didn't really get use to the intensity of the game but we have to "grasp"
these differences and adapt quickly to each and every time. We have a lot of
hard work still to do but I'm confident we can achieve it, as there's a long
way to go in this league before the season finishes
