It was all going so well, writes Mike Wallis.
Trying to write these reports avoiding the standard football clichés can be quite hard at times, especially as this was your classic “game of two halves relegation six pointer”.
Had Lewes not conceded late both this week and last we’d be 9th and close to catching Sheffield United in 8th. Alas, Lewes conceded late to Durham last week and late to Reading this week and, with Watford winning at Durham, the relegation scrap at the bottom of the Championship is looking extremely tight. “Squeaky bum time,” as Sir Alex Ferguson might put it.
Lewes started the game really well. Reading couldn’t string two passes together and Lewes looked like scoring every time they came forward. Grace Riglar looks such a useful centre forward you wonder how she had ended up playing in defence in the first place. Maria Farrugia and Jacqui Hand caused trouble on the wings throughout the first half and Farrugia put Lewes in front, running from the left and cutting inside before scoring at the second attempt.
Hand then tried the same trick, forcing a save from the Reading keeper who could only palm the ball out to Claypole who couldn’t miss… but she did, blasting the ball into the Philcox. Lewes continued to dominate and did get a second before half-time. The Reading keeper had a strange game, making some really good saves but also looking really uncomfortable when Lewes got the ball into the box. Riglar tried her luck from distance and the keeper looked to have it covered comfortably, only for the ball to deflect off her wrist, off the post and into the net. 2-0 Lewes at half time.
Lewes actually started the second half reasonably well, the Reading keeper had to make two good saves, first tipping a shot onto the bar and then saving low from Hand.
But the tension was starting to tell. Both managers were booked for dissent and Reading started to get a foothold in the game. Primmer had a chance to pull one back that she couldn’t miss… and stuck her shot into the Philcox as well. Roberts hit the bar for Reading. Everything was going Lewes’s way.
Until it wasn’t. Two remarkably similar goals to concede and remarkably similar to the goal conceded to Durham last week. The ball possibly hadn’t gone out for the original corner, but Lewes didn’t clear it properly when the ball came in and Perry managed to thread her shot through the bodies in the six-yard box and into the net. Reading kept pushing and then deep into the seven minutes added on the same happened again: corner not cleared, scramble in six-yard box, ball ends up in net. 2-2. Gutted.
There was still time for Primmer to get herself sent off for a second yellow and Lewes to force another save from the Reading keeper, but 2-2 was probably a fair result. Three more wins will probably be enough, but Lewes are fast running out of games to get them.
Lewes: Whitehouse, Godfrey, Garrad, Roche (Palmer 81), Hamilton, Hand (Brasero-Carreira 66), Hazard, Olding, Farrugia (Grey 66), Riglar (Blades 89), Claypole.
Goals: Farrugia (13), Riglar (29)
Booked: Whitehouse
Reading: Annets, Stapleton, Wellings, Primmer (s/o 90+7), Perry (Elwood 87), Wade, Hendrix, Mayi-Kith (Roberts 56), Estcourt, Woolley, Woodham (Newborough 56).
Goals: Perry (81), Wellings (90+4)
Booked: Hendrix, Stapleton, Primmer x2
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