Thursday November 6, 2008
National Division, Shawbridge
Rovers 0-1 Liverpool

ROVERS Ladies were left to rue a catalogue of missed chances, as Liverpool snatched an unlikely win to lift them clear of danger.

Adam Lakeland's side dominated for long spells, but failed to find an end result.

After Rovers had enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges, Liverpool scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half against the run of play.

From a Rovers throw deep inside the Liverpool half, the ball was cleared long to Danielle Sheen, who cut inside onto her left-foot foot before smashing an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net.

The visitors ought to have doubled their advantage just eight minutes later when Katie Anderton was penalised for a foul inside the box, but Kelly Jones' penalty rattled the crossbar.

Anderton thought she'd made amends when she found the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed for offside.

Rovers introduced Emma McDougall at the break and the pacey midfielder twice came close to rescuing a point for the home side.

Her best opportunity was when she rounded the keeper, only to slot the ball into the side-net and with virtually the last kick of the game, McDougall smashed a first-time effort from Chantelle Parry's through ball, which whistled just inches over the bar.

Lakeland said: "It is obviously not the result we were looking for at all. But I can't be too critical or disappointed with the performance of the players.

"We had so much possession of the ball and got round Liverpool so many times in the game, but our final ball or cross just wasn't good enough at times.

"It was just one of those games when we lacked that killer instinct. I think we could have played until midnight and still not scored!

"Meanwhile, Liverpool have scored with their only chance of the game, so it's a difficult pill to swallow. I don't like losing, but I can accept defeat if we've given everything and played well, which we did.

"We had three or four games where we conceded for too many goals, but over the past couple of weeks we've been concentrating on defending better as a team and I think that's showed in our recent games. However, maybe our offensive side has suffered slightly as a consequence."

ROVERS: Parker, Harding, Shepherd, Twohig, Norris, Burke, Campbell, Anderton, Preston, Parry, McCoy (McDougall 46).

Subs not used: Pailing Brewer, Lynch, Forster.