Ladies on the up after Palace victory (From Brentwood Weekly News)

Ladies on the up after Palace victory

4:37pm Wednesday 17th October 2012 in Local Sport

BRENTWOOD Town Ladies recorded a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace, to move up to ninth place in the South East Women’s Combination League table.

After last weekend’s league cup victory against Cambridge, Blues registered back-to-back away successes for the first time since April 2011.

Manager Ian Bent had to contend with six of his squad from the Cambridge fixture being unavailable.

On the plus side, Kelly Walker returned from injury and Dan Butler and Dan Robertson were included as well as substitute Bryony Lynch.

Blues made a blistering start. Only eight minutes had passed when Brentwood took the lead. Goalkeeper Alex Davis came out of her area to sweep the ball away, but her clearance dropped to Lucy Faraday, who controlled her lob exquisitely to net her goal.

Blues doubled their advantage just a minute later when Armstrong spotted Davis off her line and chipped over the custodian from the right flank.

Town appeared comfortable and they failed to create chances with the same regularity as they had. Instead, Palace reduced the arrears ten minutes before the interval.

Michelmore’s corner was delivered short to Hannah Mayhew and, when the midfielder’s right-wing cross was flicked on to the back post, Rebekah Wiltshire was given time and space to half-volley into the bottom left-hand corner.

A minute later, a goal-line clearance from Armstrong was required to stop the hosts levelling.

Palace were momentarily on top, although Blues retained a threat on the break and Whinnett drew a smart stop from Davis after being given possession by Faraday.

Hard work from Robertson and Butler then created another opportunity for the Liverpudlian, who this time half-volleyed wide of the left-hand upright.

On the stroke of half-time, Brentwood restored their two-goal cushion with a goal of some quality from Robertson. She latched on to Whinnett’s through-ball on the right-hand side and sprinted clear of the defence before deftly lifting the ball over Davis and into the net.

The homesters were not content to allow the match to drift away and made all three substitutions within 20 minutes of the restart. The teams traded chances early on, but Palace enjoyed the better opportunities thereafter.

A goal back would have frayed Blues nerves, but Prior clasped a Kayleigh Lecomber shot at the second attempt in the 64th minute and then watched as Claire Williams’s 30-yard free-kick curled wide of the left-hand post a quarter-of-an-hour from the end.

Walker and Nikki Allen were called upon to charge down consecutive Lecomber efforts, but Brentwood completed the match for the second week running by holding the ball up in the corner for lengthy periods to register their second win of the League campaign.