Posh Women U23s lost 4-2 in the determining round of the FAWNL Reserves League Cup against Boldmere St Michael’s Women Development.
Peterborough United U23s recorded a 4-2 loss in the determining round of the FA Women’s National Reserve League Cup against a strong Boldmere St Michael’s Women Development side, containing nine first-team players, on Sunday afternoon at the Trevor Brown Memorial Ground, with second-half strikes from Jess Evans and Frankie Pim.
The hosts were out of the starting blocks fast and scored on eight minutes as Boldmere’s striker headed into the far corner. The Mikes doubled their lead a minute later as a poor clearance allowed the forward to easily strike the ball into an empty net. Boldmere St Michael’s continued to pressurise the Posh defence and, on 15 minutes, netted a third goal as a through ball was latched onto by the forward who slotted home low into the bottom left corner.
Posh slowly began to grow into the game and carved their first chance at goal on 21 minutes as Pim curled an ambitious 30-yard effort just wide of the target. Boldmere continued to create chances of their own, with Megan Dellar forced into a save after the forward made a bursting run into the box. On the half-hour mark, The Mikes were rewarded a penalty after Phoebe Richards-Reeves was ruled to have caught the forward before she struck her effort at goal. The penalty was well taken, giving Dellar no chance as it was fired into the top netting.
Posh Women U23s responded well in the second half, with Ellie Curson’s corner finding Rebecca Mears and she guided her header into the top left corner, but was cleared off the line by the defender. On 48 minutes, Mears played Pim through on goal, but her effort curled inches wide of the post. Posh did find the back of the net in the seconds later as Jess Evans collected the ball on the edge of the box and curled her effort into the top right corner.
Posh continued to pile the pressure on the hosts as Pim raced through on goal, but saw her shot well saved by the goalkeeper. Evans burst into the box on 55 minutes, but could not trouble the goalkeeper. With 20 minutes to go, Evans headed Alicia Podd’s cross wide of the post.
Minutes later, Elloise Copson sent a cross into the box which caused the defender problems, but the ball was ruled to not have crossed the line. On 85 minutes, Posh gained a second goal as Pim advanced into the box and saw her effort parried away by the goalkeeper, but fell kindly back to her as she cut the ball back to Taya Smith who fired the ball into the back of the net.
Manager, Michael Allsebrook, said after the game: “I believe the game shows the strength of our pathway given our team full of 16-17 year-olds has come up against a team made up of a majority of their first team players from tier four. The game itself was the same story as Wolves, we weren’t quick enough to the ball or aggressive enough at first. We were a bit naive defensively to start off with, but got better as the game went on.”
“Credit to the players, as they believed in themselves and turned it around. In the second half, they gone out there and were the much better side for the 45 minutes. We scored two goals and on another day that could have been more. We fully support these players and now they are starting to believe that they are good enough to perform at this level.”
Posh XI: Dellar, Richards-Reeves (sub 73 mins, Akinyemi), Sands (sub 73 mins, Wheatley), Copson, Osker, Curson, Evans, Podd, Pim, Mears (sub 61 mins, Bale), Smith.
Unused Subs: Robinson.
Written by Lauren Shiels.