Ladies in five goal thriller

In their first game of 2017, United produced their best performance since mid-November, against an in form Ascot United side that were to record a sixth successive league win.

Woodley started the stronger with May Hamblin lively on the left flank and while it took keeper Bonnie Messitt to bundle on shot off her goal line to keep the match scoreless it was the home team who deservedly took the lead on twenty nine minutes when Becky Lowes fired home from the edge of the Ascot penalty area.

Woodley kept the pressure on forcing Ascot’s keeper Charlotte Cox to parry a shot away for a corner from a Rosie Page-Smith effort while Messitt parried well from a visitors’ corner and stopped a shot on the goal line following it rebounding of the post into her grasp before an Ascot counter attack down their right flank saw Hannah Evans beat Messitt at the near post to level four minute before half time.

Laws was unlucky not to restore the home team’s lead three minutes later when another shoot from distance just went wide of the Cox’s right top corner.

Woodley started the second half as they played the first but were gradually force on the back foot with Ascot’s half time substitute Alex Franken being dangerous on their right wing. Messitt did well to keep out a Ascot shot that took a wicked deflection of centre back Ellen Surtees before the league’s leading goal scorer Lucy Holzman-Clark bundled the ball into the Woodley net on sixty one minutes following Franken cross.

This was to be the first of three goals in five minutes with another Ascot substitute Emma Wallace running from her own half with the ball to fire past Messitt before Page – Smith complete the match scoring on sixty six minutes following a cross from Mollie Haines.

Although there were no more goals both teams were doing their best to score with Ascot seeing another effort cleared of Woodley’s goal line following a corner while Page – Smith were agonisingly wide in the closing minutes of the match.