Sunday March 14, 2010
Imber Court, National Division
Chelsea 4-1 Rovers Ladies
Rovers Ladies suffered a second successive 4-1 away defeat to one of the top teams in the country, despite again being level at the break.
Chelsea opened the scoring midway through the first half when Claire Rafferty fired the ball into the top corner from 25 yards, direct from a dubious free-kick.
Rovers equalised just a minute before the break from a set piece of their own. Nicky Twohig played the ball into the box, Katie Anderton challenged with the keeper and Natalie Preston (pictured) fired home the loose ball via the aid of a deflection off Sophie Perry.
The home side restored their advantage eight minutes into the second half, again with a hint of controversy. Rovers cleared their lines from a corner, but when the ball was played back in, Rebecca Jane looked to be offside as she ran through to score.
There was no debate about the final two goals however, as Dunia Susi twice capitalised on some slack defending to bag a quickfire brace and complete a comfortable win.
Manager Adam Lakeland said: "We were very fortunate to go in 1-1 at half-time, it really could have been two or three.
"We made a couple of changes at the break in order to improve things in the second half and I think we posed more of a threat with having two up front.
"However, we never got going and Chelsea thoroughly deserved to beat us by the margin they did, if not more. It was just one of those occasions when everyone had an off day.
"That was what disappointed me the most, because after a decent display for long periods against Arsenal, we felt that if we could repeat that again, there was a chance we could get something at Chelsea.
"It was just very disappointing that no-one turned up and there was no reason for it. We prepared the same way and everyone was buoyant.
"Unfortunately, Chelsea didn't have to work hard for it, but we play them again in a couple of weeks and I hope we can make a better account of ourselves. It's better at least to get one of these performances out of the way against a team we're not expected to beat rather than against a team like Bristol Academy who we play this weekend."
ROVERS: Hill, Burke, Roberts, Twohig, Harding, Campbell (sub McDougall 70 mins), Shepherd, Preston, Emmanuel (sub Kane 46 mins), Ward (sub Sheen 46 mins), Anderton.
Subs not used: Carroll, Heyes.
