Rocky Road.

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Intro

An impressive 22/23 season in the Dorset Women’s League in which they only lost 2 games, means promotion to tier 6 for Shaftesbury. They’ll be playing in the Eastern Division of the South West Regional Leagues for the new campaign. Today’s opponents will compete in the level above: the Southern Region Football League Premier Division. Seemingly spared relegation last season despite finishing at the bottom of the pile with just the 2 wins to their name. Winchester City Flyers will be looking for an improved performance in 23/24.

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The Ground

Cockrams is situated just outside the town centre in Shaftesbury. It has recently been refurbished with an artificial pitch and looks very smart overall. The viewing area is raised slightly above pitch level along the near end and one side of the playing surface. Along one touchline is a long, covered seated stand with a few rows of red seats. Opposite this are the dugouts and a covered standing area. The whole facility feels very open and spacious, and is surrounded by tall trees in the most part.

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The Match

In contrast to yesterday’s deluge the sun had decided to make an appearance today, although a light shower did threaten to put a dampener on things at half time. Winchester started on the front foot with their number 15 forcing a save from Emma Stranger in the Shaftesbury goal. It was, however, a mistake from Stranger that lead to the opening goal – a ball into the box was fumbled by the keeper and turned into an empty net by the visiting striker. The lead was doubled on the quarter-hour mark… I missed the goal so cannot comment on it! Winchester’s number 7 hit the bar after meeting a corner with her head just before the halfway mark in the half. Shaftesbury almost pulled a goal back on 32 minutes. The Winchester keeper had taken a bit of a knock but the Rockies’ player tried an audacious attempt from 25 yards but was unlucky to hit the post. The Nikki Castle shot from 20 yards 10 minutes later but the effort was too close to the Winchester goalie. The last action of the half was a jinking run from Winchester’s impressive number 16, but she couldn’t find her way past Stranger.

7 minutes into the second half it was 3-0 to the Flyers. Number 16 cut back to 15 and her shot looped over the stranded Stranger. The Winchester keeper was back in action 5 minutes later as Shaftesbury’s number 12 went through one-on-one but couldn’t score. Just under 14 minutes remained when the hosts finally got their goal – a good run and finish by Katie Baines who took it around the goalkeeper well. 4 minutes later the away side almost restored their 3 goal advantage but Stranger had other ideas, saving from Winchester’s number 16. Shaftesbury made it very interesting with 8 minutes to go – Baines crossed into the box and the ball was seemingly turned home by a Winchester defender. The equaliser wouldn’t come, though, as the higher-division side held on to their lead to win an entertaining game.

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The Photos

The full gallery of match photos is also available HERE