Grimsby Town Women made the short trip to local rivals Grimsby Borough for their East Midlands Regional Football League match with both teams sitting at opposite ends of the table prior to kick-off.
The Mariners started with the same intensity that they had shown in the previous league meeting despite having three weeks without a fixture.
The score wasn’t level for long when after 4 minutes Captain Kim Brown finished off a move that saw Alisha Dejonge fly down the left-hand side beating her player before floating a delightful cross into the middle, a simple 1-2 between Kim and Georgia left Kim with space and she found the net to the goalkeepers right.
Grimsby continued to drive forward and keep possession well; the ball was played back to Lisa Cromey in the right back position who played it inside to Harriet Dalton at centre back. Without looking, Dalton fizzed the ball into Libby Wright who took a touch and with the outside of her weaker foot, glided the ball perfectly just over the Grimsby Borough defender’s head to the onrushing Kim Brown who was able to beat the keeper to the ball and lash it into the next on the sliding half volley.
11 minutes gone and Grimsby were 2 to the good, only two minutes later Kim Brown finished an incredible 9-minute hattrick when the tenacious Beth Wharton intercepted a weak back pass from the Borough defence and after her initial shot was blocked on the line, the ball fell kindly into Kim Brown’s lap who said “thank you very much” and rifled it into the open goal.
14 minutes on the clock when the first and only card of the match came out. Laura Ibbett chased her opponent down the line hassling her all the way when the attacker left an opening for Ibbett to knick the ball away. But as soon as it opened, the attacker closed that avenue but too little too late for Ibbett, who had already committed to the tackle resulting in a clear foul leaving the referee with no choice.
Following a rare Borough attack, play broke to Alisha DeJonge on the left who drilled a cross which was met with a Kim Brown flick on, right into the path of an unmarked Emily Blyth. From 12 yards out, Emily was able to finish at the second time of asking after a great initial save by the Borough goalkeeper, making it 4-0.
A painful clash in the 26th minute marred what had been a great day at the office, which left Alisha Dejonge requiring hospital treatment for a head injury.
Grimsby continued to control the game, allowing little through and creating plenty but just couldn’t build on their already impressive lead.
Grimsby Borough made it 1-4 just before halftime, when a lofted clearance managed to bounce and evade a high back line, allowing the Borough striker to race onto it and just lift the ball over an on-rushing Beth French in goal.
HALF TIME – 1-4
The second half started flat with both teams struggling to find their rhythm, not helped by a flurry of early substitutions by the Borough bench.
Once again, The Mariners started to control possession which in turn, led to more desperate tactics from the Grimsby Borough team, cynical fouls and attempts to rile up the away team all came to no avail, with maturity from Grimsby Town Women that defied a lot of the players’ young ages.
The final goal of the tie came in the 81st minute, thanks to a goal from Georgia Silvester against her former club. Some good possession in the middle of the park led to a ball out to Ellie Wilson, who tucked a lovely ball into Lily Jacklin who with one touch to control, slid the ball to her left and after a deft faint to the left, Georgia brought the ball onto her right foot and fired high into the roof of the net leaving the keeper helpless.
FULL-TIME Grimsby Borough 1-5 Grimsby Town
Captain Kim Brown stated following the result that it was a “Great performance from the team today. We started quickly and got a few goals ahead and we were unfortunate to concede just before half time but we came back out, controlled the game and deserved the three points”.
Speaking on her hat trick, Kim explained “It’s always nice to get on the scoresheet, but that wouldn’t be possible without the group around me”.
Assistant Manager Paul Shaw echoed Kim’s statement “It’s always great to win and it adds that little bit more when it’s against your local rivals. The ladies all performed extremely well, with a few players making their first appearance of the season and scoring 5 goals for the 2nd game in a row.
“It was great to see so many Grimsby Town fans in attendance, supporting the players and we will go away and work on a few things from this tie and hopefully head to Hull United in the FA Cup next Sunday looking for another positive result”.
Grimsby Town Women’s next fixture comes in the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying round away to Hull United on 2nd October.
