The Grecians came up against a very physical Maidenhead side on Sunday. Buoyed by the returns of midfielders Paige Longworth-Wakeham and Courtney Butt, City were riding high after beating Southampton Saints two weeks previously. 

The sides were evenly-matched for the first ten minutes, with the first chance falling to striker Helen Kukor, who hit the crossbar with an awkward shot after a great cross in from the left by strike partner Vic Barter. It wasn’t long after that Maidenhead had their best chance of the whole game. Their full-back took on City right-back Sophie Russell and rattled the post with a great strike. 

The first goal came in the nineteenth minute. A thirty-yard ball over the top of the Maidenhead midfield was met on the half-volley by returning midfielder Courtney Butt, who lobbed the defence and the keeper. City made a fair few other chances, with industrious midfielder Kirsty Caunter striking wide from the edge of the area, and some great work by the City defenders and midfielders ensured that the visitors were kept to only half-chances. 

In the thirty-eigth minute Butt struck again. Another ball over the top was brought down by Kukor, who in turn found Butt. Again she met the ball on the half-volley, this time with the outside of her boot, and fired the ball past the Maidenhead keeper. 

City’s third goal came on the stroke of half-time. They won a corner on the right-hand side, and Kirsty Caunter floated a ball into the back post - it looked like it went over the line itself, but Kukor was there to tap the ball into the back of the net just to make sure. 3-0 at half-time. 

Maidenhead came out for the second half all guns blazing. There were very few chances created in the second half from either team. The game got very scrappy and lacked the same flow of the first half. The ball was mainly kept in the middle of the park and the City keeper had very little to do thanks to some great defending by Marika Ghiglia, Catherine Wright and Corinne Potts. 

Soph Simpson came on in the seventieth minute for left-winger Sam Burnham after she’d picked up an injury from a late tackle. Simpson went up front with Kukor and Barter switched out to the left. 

City’s final goal came in the eighty-fourth minute. The ball found its way to Soph Simpson after great work in the centre of the park by Caunter. Simpson played an excellent ball to Kukor, who turned and ran at the Maidenhead defender before firing the ball into the bottom left corner to make the final score 4-0.