Sunday February 28, 2010
Radcliffe Borough, National Division
Rovers Ladies 4-2 Watford
Rovers Ladies climbed off the foot of the Women's Premier League table with a 4-2 win over Watford.
Second-half goals from Danielle Sheen (pictured), Lynda Shepherd, Rhiannon Roberts and Katie Anderton earned Rovers a maiden league victory at Stainton Park and three precious points in their fight for survival.
Rovers were forced to come from behind, as Watford opened the scoring on 13 minutes with their first attack of the game. After Rhiannon Roberts lost possession at the back, the Hornets broke and Sarah Wiltshire chipped the ball over the onrushing Danielle Hill.
The scores stayed the same until the break, but Rovers came roaring back at the start of the second half.
Just 90 seconds after the interval, Anderton played in Sheen, who provided a neat finish with her right foot.
A few minutes later, Rovers doubled their tally when a shot was parried and Shepherd smashed in the rebound.
Rovers added their third just past the hour mark when Roberts headed home an Amy Kane corner and Anderton secured the points with a trademark strike, after another corner had been cleared to the edge of the box.
Jadine Madden scored a stoppage-time consolation for the visitors, but it didn't detract from an excellent Rovers display.
Manager Adam Lakeland said: "It was obviously a really important game for us and one that we had earmarked for some time as an opportunity to pick up three points.
"Over the 90 minutes, I thought we thoroughly deserved to win. We started the game really well, but were caught with the sucker punch and conceded against the run of play due to a mistake of our own.
"We didn't show sufficient quality to get back into the game in the first half, but we regrouped and spoke about what we could do better and I thought we were outstanding in the second half, especially the first 15 minutes.
"We got the ball forward early, we played effective football and they couldn't cope.
"It was a really big three points and it makes our situation in the league look a little bit better. It moves us off the bottom and that's a big psychological boost. It has been demoralising and frustrating for everyone at the club to see us cemented to the bottom for so long, but we haven't had the games to sort it out.
"We've got two difficult games coming up - away at Arsenal and Chelsea - but at least now we can go out and enjoy them, with no pressure. If we can come away with two creditable performances, like we did against Everton in the FA Cup, then hopefully we can carry that into our next five or six winnable games."
A gallery from the game is available here.
ROVERS: Hill, Burke (sub Emmanuel 80 mins), Roberts, Twohig, Harding, Campbell, Shepherd, Preston, Kane (sub Walker 70 mins), Anderton, Sheen (sub Ward 70 mins).
Subs not used: Carroll.
