On Sunday the women’s team suffered their first defeat of season, going out of The Vitality Women’s FA Cup in the second preliminary round at the hands of Dronfield Town Ladies.

Dronfield took the lead on 18 minutes when an error at the back saw a pass being intercepted and finished with no mistake. Shortly afterwards, forward Amber Sharp was persistent with her pressure, which forced an error at the other end. On 23 minutes, Sharp was able to gain possession through her pressing, calmly rounded the keeper and put the ball in the net and level the score.

In the 32nd minute, Town’s pressure forced a corner. Olivia Kershaw put in a fine delivery from the corner and Ellie Wilson was on hand to volley the ball into the net to put the Mariners in the lead.

Dronfield continued to work hard in trying to get themselves back into the game. That hard work paid off in the 35th minute when a corner resulted in the score drawing level again, despite Town players protested that the ball hadn’t crossed the line.

In the second half, Dronfield started the stronger team. That strength saw Dronfield take the lead in the 50th minute when a looping header from a free-kick put them 3-2 ahead. The Town ladies battled hard to recover the deficit but unfortunately couldn’t get that vital equalising goal.

Speaking after the game, assistant manager Hayley Cox told us “We have to be very honest with ourselves today and say that we weren’t near the levels that we are used to. So on reflection, we probably haven’t got anything more out of the game than we deserved. But we brush ourselves down and prepare well for our next fixture next week when we will be looking to get back to winning ways again in the league”.

The women’s team return to league action on Sunday with an away fixture in Scunthorpe at newly-promoted Appleby Frodingham.