Posh Women U23s secured a late victory over Notts County.
A last minute free-kick from Ellie Curson secured a 1-0 for Peterborough United Women U23s in their final home game of the season at the idverde Training Ground on Sunday afternoon against Notts County Women Reserves in their latest FA Women’s National League Reserves Midlands Division fixture.
Posh started the game strongly with Lauren King forcing the goalkeeper into action with a well struck shot from distance. In the tenth minute, a curling effort from The Magpies was safely collected by Megan Dellar. Alicia Podd collected the ball on the edge of the box before curling an effort towards the far corner, but the goalkeeper saved well to deny a breakthrough.
Phoebe Richards-Reeves played Taya Smith through on goal inside the box but the defender cleared before she could unleash her shot. The subsequent corner by Curson was headed towards goal by the opposition but the goalkeeper tipped the ball over the crossbar. Notts County had a corner of their own in the 37th minute as the forwards’ header was on target but cleared away by Posh. Set-pieces continued to threaten The Magpies as a corner fell invitingly to Edyn Osker on the edge of the box but her half-volley was deflected inches wide of the post. Curson’s in-swinging corner brushed the roof netting on the stroke of half time.
Posh came out in the second half well as Maddison Moore played the ball back to Arabella Lloyd-Edwards but her first time effort ricocheted off the woodwork. Lloyd-Edwards was involved once again minutes later as she curled an effort outside of the box towards the bottom right corner but it hit the post and diverted away.
Moore delivered a cross towards Smith in the box but her header failed to hit the target. Lauren King dribbled her way towards goal but her low ball into the box could not find a Posh player. On the hour mark, Rebecca Mears sent a lofted effort towards goal but the goalkeeper collected safely. Smith latched onto Curson’s diagonal ball into the box but her low driven shot was parried away by the goalkeeper.
Lloyd-Edwards fancied her chances from distance, having spotted the goalkeeper off her line, but she recovered well to deny Posh the breakthrough. Dellar was forced into an acrobatic save as the ball fell kindly to the Notts County forward who volleyed towards goal.
Posh looked to have opened the scoring in the 82nd minute as Richards-Reeves played a low cross towards Ella-Mai Bale, she directed her effort towards goal which hit the post and looked to have gone in, but the referee waved play on. Bale caused problems inside the box once again as she was brought down before unleashing her shot but only a goal-kick was awarded.
With a minute to spare, Posh found a breakthrough as Curson curled a free-kick just outside the box into the top left corner.
Women’s U23s Manager, Michael Allsebrook, spoke after the game, “I want to give full credit to Notts County. They made it really difficult to play against; they were defensive and hard to break down. The girls’ had to dig in to get the result, but they found a way and fair play to them for doing that. I’m really happy with the performance, a real improvement on last weekend. We came close on many occasions, hitting the crossbar, the post, keeper had to make some good saves so on another day the score-line could have been different.”
“It was a great strike from Ellie (Curson). She’s an incredibly technical midfield player. She’s had to be resilient this season having played a lot of minutes but we know her set pieces are outstanding and she’s popped that one in the top corner with a minute to go. We got 90 minutes into Nidia (Neto) and 60 into Maddie (Moore) today, who both played well. With players unavailable next week, it was important to manage the minutes of those injured and on the fringe in preparation for that Stoke game.”
“We change formation a few times in the game. We played the last half hour with 3 centre-backs with Lauren (King) and Phoebe (Richards-Reeves) as wing-backs. In doing so, we created lots of opportunities. It was brave to change shape during the game but it certainly played a part in getting the result. We’ve got three games left now; we want to go unbeaten as the girls’ deserve it. They’ve been outstanding this season.”
Posh XI: Dellar, King, Richards-Reeves, Neto, Osker, Podd, Curson, Mears, Moore (sub 58min, Bale), Lloyd-Edwards, Smith (sub 72min Sands).