Parkwood Rangers Women (0) 0
Tonbridge Angels Women (2) 5 Churchill 33 Herbert-Smith 43 Driscoll 54 Cresswell 74 Cooper 81
Attendance: 200
Admission: £3
Mileage: 21/6,753
Tonbridge Angels Women retained their SECWFL League Cup crown with a comfortable 5-0 win over Parkwood Rangers and with it completing a Cup double to add to their runners-up position in the SECWFL Kent Premier Division.
Parkwood belied their league position at the foot of the table with a stubborn first half performance, albeit that the Angels still went into the break two goals to the good.
Angels’ Women’s manager Joe Rowe commented: “I enjoyed that one, the team played really well. We said at half-time we need to keep doing the simple things and opportunities will come, which they did with some great goals and we were good to watch. We’ve had a very good run, 13 or 14 unbeaten and we knew, given league position, that we were the favourites. Credit to Parkwood, they beat Maidstone and Sevenoaks en-route to the final, so we knew that we would have to be on our game.”
A pleasantly warm evening at The Gallagher saw a good turnout from both sets of supporters with the Angels’ barmy army providing the constant backdrop of noise.
The Angels began the game on the front foot, and in fairness, the passage of play didn’t change much throughout the 90 minutes of the game. After just three minutes, Tonbridge’s leading goalscorer, Grace Mayhead was sent clear but, in what became a recurring theme, Parkwood’s goalkeeper, Jemma Roodenburgh was quick off her line to smother her shot. The resultant corner saw Mollyanne Herbert-Smith head against the bar, and this was quickly followed by Herbert-Smith seeing her shot turned over by Roodenburgh.
The game settled into a pattern in which the Angels dominated but stubborn resistance from the Bexley-based side restricted the chances to a bare minimum with Roodenburgh saving well from Charlotte Cresswell on the half-hour.
The Angels goalkeeper, Lois Bartlett, had been largely untroubled before a corner saw a header from Corrie Goodhew clear the bar.
The Angels finally achieved the breakthrough on 33 minutes and, as much as it was well deserved, it came with a stroke of good fortune as Aimee Churchill’s free kick from 20 yards took a massive deflection to leave Roodenburgh stranded.
Two minutes before the break the lead was doubled when Churchill opened up a shooting opportunity for Hope Mumford that went through the goalkeeper’s hands and into the roof of the net.
Early second half saves from Roodenburgh to twice deny Herbert-Smith came prior to a 30 yard screamer into the top corner from Milly Driscoll that would be a contender for any goal of the season contest.
Parkwood continued to battle hard against a never-ending tide of Angels pressure and even survived a penalty miss on 74 minutes, before good work down the right by Holly Maclaurin allowed Cresswell to score from close range for the Angels’ fourth.
The game was wrapped up on 81 minutes when Amelia Cooper cut in from the left to bury her shot into the bottom corner.
Joe Rowe summed up the women’s season: “Our aim was, we have got promoted and we are not here just to turn up and be an extra team in that league. Our aim was top three and a cup final, so I’m really pleased with the runners-up spot and to win two cup finals.”
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