Posh Women U23s hit six past The Royals on Sunday afternoon.
Peterborough United Women U23s secured their third win on the bounce in the FA Women’s National League Reserve Midland Division after a 6-0 victory over Sutton Coldfield Town Women Development on Sunday afternoon at the idverde Training Ground.
Posh started the game brightly and broke the deadlock inside the opening minute as Rennai Bennett locked onto a through ball, advanced into the box and crossed low towards Ella-Mai Bale who tapped the ball home at the second attempt.
Bennett continued to threaten on the left flank and curled an effort towards goal, but it hit the post before Jenkins collected the rebound. The Posh Women U23s doubled their lead on five minutes as Ellie Curson delivered a corner into the box and Bale headed in off the crossbar.
The Posh continued to pressurise the Royals’ as substitute Zina Cheikh advanced on the left before cutting the ball back to Bale, but her shot was blocked. Sutton Coldfield carved their first chance of the game on 24 minutes as Eminoglu fired her shot at goal, but it was straight into the hands of Darcy Guy.
Guy was called into action minutes later as Costa beat the offside trap and her effort failed to test the Posh goalkeeper. On the counter attack, Bale advanced forward and looked to slot the ball into the bottom corner, but Jenkins positioned herself well on the edge of her box and saved with her feet.
On 36 minutes, Posh extended their lead as Cheikh collected the ball on halfway, advanced towards the box, dribbled round Jenkins before slotting home into an empty net. Posh could have scored a fourth 60 seconds later as Bennett looked to curl her free-kick into the bottom left corner, but Jenkins dived down low to parry the ball away. On the stroke of half time, Bennett added a fourth goal as she rose highest from Curson’s deep corner to head the ball into the top right corner.
The Royals’ grew into the game in the second half as both sides enjoyed spells of possession. Posh continued to threaten on the attack and netted a fifth on 59 minutes as Jess Evans’ cross flew over several bodies in the box before Alicia Podd fired her first-time effort from the edge of the box into the roof of the net. Cheikh claimed her brace on 67 minutes as Maddison Moore sent her through on goal and Cheikh slotted calmly past Jenkins.
U23s manager Michael Allsebrook, spoke after the game, “I’m delighted with the result, the players are delivering the consistency we are asking for. We give full credit to Sutton Coldfield for coming out and continuing to push for goals. I thought we looked levels above them today, we were technically the best I have seen them this season and made good decisions all over the pitch. That’s a huge positive and shows how far we’ve come since the heavy loss against Lincoln a few weeks ago. We’re a quick starting team now, which is something the girls have massively improved on since the start of the season.”
“Ella-Mai [Bale] been a real threat to their centre-backs all game, but fair play, she’s had to be patient and wait for her time considering Frankie’s [Pim] form, however, she’s in great form at the minute. Zina [Cheikh] took her first goals for us well, she played more minutes than anticipated today with Taya’s [Smith] injury but she played in a position she loves and made an impact.
“We’ve now got a number of our attackers up and running for the season and everyone is chipping in, we missed Frankie today who is our top scorer but we still managed to score six goals. Darcy [Guy] played superbly in goal today, she’s very vocal and communicates well on the pitch. It’s a clean sheet that the back four and Darcy deserved. That’s one goal in three matches conceded now, which is another real improvement from the start of the season where we did look a bit vulnerable at the back.”
Posh XI: Guy, King (sub 65min, Moore), Osker, Sands, Richards-Reeves, Curson, Evans, Mears, Smith (sub 19min, Cheikh), Bale, Bennett (sub 58min, Podd).
Unused Subs: Robinson.
Written by Lauren Shiels.
Photo Credit: Darren Wiles