Wight Eagles’ unbeaten start to the season was ended at the weekend following a narrow defeat away at Winchester Flyers.
The Island side found themselves without an experienced defender in Emma Webb, so a re-shape of the formation was needed against a young Winchester side.
After 15 mins Winchester found themselves in 1-on-1, following a short back-pass. (1-0)
Winchester were then given an easy corner on the 25th minute, netting the second following some suspect marking from the set piece. (2-0). Shortly after a foul on Captain Katie Rand on the edge of the box saw the referee play on and Winchester were (3-0) up before halftime.
A reshuffle at half time and some motivation from the management team saw the Island side come out strong and push the Winchester side back. Shortly after, the football started to flow as the Eagles saw Abi Joyce net within 5-minutes of the restart. (3-1)
That was shortly doubled by a quick brace from the in-form Kira Smith, following 2 inch-perfect passes from Ellena Boakes. (3-3)
The ladies pushed to find a winner but with the team stretched due to the injuries a short back pass saw Winchester bag a winner. (4-3).
Player of the Match – Ayisha Keyes
Manager Dan Verstraeten said:
“This was a really hard one to take today for the ladies. We never really got started in the first half and gave them too much respect and space.”
The reaction at half time was a turning point in our game, but unfortunately errors will always cost you and we need to learn from that.
Wight Eagles host Mudeford on Sunday (22nd September) at GKN sports field 14:00.
