Sunday 5th September 2004

Exeter City Ladies 2 Cheltenham Town 2

This was a hard earned point for City, as Cheltenham controlled much of the game. Against the run of play, Exeter were rewarded a free kick just outside the area. Stacey Pearson played a short lay off, with Jo Goldsworthy drilling a well placed low shot to the near comer to put City ahead. Cheltenhamn continued to dominate, but the Grecians Ladies won possession and worked the ball down the right hand side. Emma Redwood played in an inch perfect cross to Goldsworthy, who scored with a first time volley past the keeper. City were then awarded a penalty after pushing in the area, but on this occasion Goldsworthy was unable to complete her hat trick. The second half was much the same, with Cheltenham dominating again, to which they were rewarded with a goal after 15 minutes. On the half hour mark Cheltenham were then awarded a dubious penalty. The penalty was taken with City goal keeper Sarah Bell (photo) knocking the ball on to the bar, and play continued. However, A very late decision from the linesman judged the ball to have crossed the line, even though the referee, in full sight, had not given the goal. After much dispute from players and officials, the goal was awarded.

This brought City back to life with Goldsworthy hitting the bar from a tight angled shot, and Sally Ames unlucky with a good challenge on the keeper. Manager Steve McLear said:" All in all this was an under par performance. To be fair Cheltenham seemed to want it more than us for the majority of the game."

One pleasing aspect to come out of this, is that we didn't play to full potential but still came away with a point. We know we need to improve our performance but fully believe in the players we've got and the level they can play to and it shouldn't be a problem achieving this.