Cup Victory

Stockport had to wait while the opposition negotiated the traffic in Manchester, and delayed the final by 30 minutes. Despite this we got off to a great start. Lisa Horbury met a cross from the right and with a first time touch deflected it past the keeper and into the goal. Bury had some good attacks and a brilliant shot from the top of the circle which probably would have gone it if it hadn’t hit a Bury player at full force (ouch!). Lisa Dalby had to sub with an injury, but Sam Piggin came on and filled her position well. Gemma’s powerful hits out of the defence frequently found Amy in space on the right wing, and Bury looked stretched at times in defence, but somehow stopped the Stockport’s forward line from adding to the score.

In the second half, we started too slowly, and were punished when Bury won a ball in a tackle on the edge of the circle, and outnumbering the defence quickly they crossed with accuracy to score and get back on equal terms with Stockport. However, as the half progressed, Stockport midfield’s fitness and speed started to dominate the game. Jenny Worth, Lucy, Clare and Nicola could move up the pitch and support the forwards well. Charlie was tenacious with her tackling and fired some great balls into the opposition circle from the right. Stockport created numerous chances and Bury had to save shots from Jenny Plant and Nicola Adamson off the line to keep it 1-1. In the final 2 minutes Bury showed some ambition to attack in numbers and won a short corner in the dying minutes. However they made a mistake at the top of the circle and couldn’t capitalise on the opportunity. The final whistle blew and it was down to penalties strokes to decide which team would win the cup.

Bury stepped up but our goalie Angela was seeing the ball like a football! She saved the first and Amy made no mistake with Stockport’s first stroke to put us 1-0 up. Angela saved again, and Gemma converted Stockport’s second stroke. Angela made another spectacular save leaving Bury with 0 out of 3. Stockport missed in the 3rd, but it made no difference when Angela stepped up again to make a cup-winning save of Bury’s 4th attempt and she was quickly surrounded by Stockport players in celebration.

A brilliant cup win in our first season. After the game, the league president presented Stockport captain Louise Preston with the Division 2 Cup, and all the players receive winner’s medals at the end of the season.

Also, a big thank-you to all the supporters who cheered the team on, despite the cold and rain. Well done Stockport.