Chesterfield Ladies made it two wins from their opening two games of the season on Sunday afternoon as they thrashed local rivals Rotherham United Women 5-1 away from home in the East Midlands Women's Premier Division.
Goals from Eleanor Abercrombie, Kel Fidler, Georgia Willson, Millie Standen and Amy Pashley secured all three points for the Blues and kept Mike Noon's side at the top of the league on goal difference.
The visitors took the lead after 18 minutes played when an Amy Pashley corner was met by an unmarked Eleanor Abercrombie and she hooked the ball home into the net from ten yards out. Chesterfield Ladies doubled their advantage just three minutes later when a scuffed 20 yard attempt from Shannon Purdy was diverted into the bottom corner by midfielder Kel Fidler from 12 yards out.
Chesterfield Ladies dominated possession in the first half and looked very comfortable in the opening 45 minutes. However, the team's performance dropped off in the first 25 minutes of the second half and the game suddenly became a lot more competitive as the hosts grew in confidence.
Rotherham United Women worked their way back into contention when Dina Sarayreh's 20 yard free kick found the bottom corner in the 67th minute.
Chesterfield Ladies recovered well though for the final 20 minutes of the game and rediscovered their rhythm to end up winning the game convincingly. The Derbyshire outfit secured their all-important third goal of the game in the 78th minute. Amy Pashley threaded a superb through ball into the penalty area and striker Georgia Willson just won the ball before the Rotherham goalkeeper to poke the ball into the net from 12 yards out and make it 3-1 to the visitors.
The victory was then made certain just four minutes later when Millie Standen tucked away a rebound after Georgia Willson powered past her marker and fired a stinging shot on target which was palmed away by the Millers goalkeeper.
Chesterfield Ladies then added a fifth in the 90th minute when Amy Pashley smashed home a penalty kick straight down the middle.
Chesterfield Ladies team: White, Warren, Abercrombie, Anderson, Cook, Pashley, Frances-Creaser, Standen, Fidler, Purdy, Willson. Used subs: Smyth, Jebb-Geer, Philips, Pascoe.
Mike Noon Quotes:
"Delighted to win away from home at a ground where we drew 0-0 last season. To come here this season and win 5-1 is fantastic. The three points are the most important thing. For 80 minutes of the game, we were the better team. Rotherham had a spell midway through the second half where they were really dominant and we struggled to keep the ball. We allowed them to score a goal and that gave them a bit of a gee-up in that spell which is something we need to look at and control better. But it's hard to fault the players when they've been so dominant in the rest of the game. It would have been nice to have put the game to bed a little bit earlier in the second half...on the whole, I'm very happy."
"When we were in the changing room at half-time, we felt very comfortable. We thought we could go out here and score a few more goals. We made a few sloppy passes and a few poor decisions in the second half. Perhaps there was a little bit of complacency and tiredness. You can't be doing that against any team whether they're at the top or the bottom of the league. We can't do that again in future. We just need to keep the ball a little bit better as the game goes on...I'm delighted with the end result though and the performance overall was very good."
"We've got a squad of players on the sidelines! It's good that we're still winning games when quite a few players are out injured. Nicolle Watson's injury isn't as serious as first thought which is great. We'll hopefully have her back at some point in the near future. Gina Camfield and Hannah Baker will be back training again this coming week which is really positive. We need to wait and see how Emma Young's injury develops. There's a few others with a few longer-term injuries, so we need to give them all time to recover. But as all those players start coming back, it only strengthens the team even more and we'll get stronger and stronger as the season goes on."
On the next league game at home against Anstey Nomads Women: "I don't know much about them to be honest. We played them in pre-season last season. They're a good side. They got promoted last season so we know they're going to be competitive. They won on the opening day this season against Basford. I think it'll be another tough game - there's no easy games in this league. If you want to win this league, you know you've got to be on it every single week. We're not going to take anyone lightly and hopefully we can make it three wins from three before our FA Cup game the week after."
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