Keynsham Town Ladies 0 Bridgwater United Women 1

FA Women’s National League – Report by Kerry Miller

In the end it took a defensive error to separate Bridgwater from a spirited and battling Keynsham Town Ladies at The AJN Stadium on Thursday night and kept the impressive 100% league record intact.

Manager Steve Perkins admitted his side’s performance was ‘off par as far as consistency’ and paid tribute to Keynsham who ‘worked hard and were unlucky to go in drawing 0-0 at the break’. It was a fair assessment on a cold crisp night where Bridgy began well with skipper Manfy Sharpe finding the side netting after a period of three corners in a row created pressure on the home defence.

Keynsham settled on their own 3G pitch and the impressive American Sach Kaneko-Grun went close when her skill and pace found room to get a cross shot off which clipped the angle of bar and post. Beatriz Kretteis then put Meg Jarvis in but her shot was wide and she followed that up by missing from close range after a short corner was taken while the home side were arguing with the referee.

Much travelled defender Jade Radburn had a fine game against her former club who failed to get to grips with the speed of the pitch and the cold night, and may well have had the next two weeks’ cup ties on their minds. Abbey Hateley was everywhere in the first half in attack and defence but Kaneko-Grun almost had the last say as she shot wide from a promising position with the last kick of the half.

Zoe Watkins was introduced after the break and there was more intensity as Ellie Strippel’s free-kick was kept out by Lily Lewis before her cross was missed by all and sailed out.

On the hour Bridgy were gifted the lead, and ultimately the win as Meg Jarvis pounced on a poor goal kick and Kretteis reacted quickest scooping the ball over the advancing pressure, before slotting it home.

Kaneko-Grun was not finished and with 15 minutes left she brought a flying save out of Jasmine Read then in the same attack substitute Ellie-Mae Bell somehow cleared a goalbound clearance over the line and over the bar.

Jarvis made way for Erin Williams and her pace and cross found Abbie Carslake who volleyed over but with Keeley Banfield covering every blade of synthetic grass the seven minutes of nail-biting added time were negotiated and Bridgy are six points clear at the top and will retain their perfect record for at least another two weeks.

After Sunday’s rearranged FA Cup tie at Swindon Town they return to Middlezoy a week later to take on Tottenham Hotspurs U21 in the League Cup.

Squad: Jasmine Read, Abbey Hateley, Keeley Banfield, Manfy Sharpe, Grace Smith, Meg Jarvis, Ella Pemberton, Gracie Owen, Ellie Strippel, Beatriz Kretteis, Gracie Binns.

Subs; Abbie Carslake, Ellie-Mae Bell, Katie Jones, Emison Evans, Aimee Kingdon, Erin Williams, Zoe Watkins.