Earlier in the season, Arnold Town Ladies played through extra time against Mansfield Hosiery Mills with only 10 players and were unlucky to lose 2-0 after the 120 minutes. As proud the team were with the performance,  it was against a lower league club. Today the side found themselves in the same position before kick-off due to last minute pull outs but this time had the task of facing Long Eaton Ladies who were unbeaten so far this season winning 7 of their 8 matches.

Whilst a lot of sides would have used this as an excuse it was refreshing to not hear any negativity from the players and it was clear they were going to use the anger of only having 10 available to our advantage.

Straight from kick-off Arnold got stuck in, giving their hosts little time to settle on the ball and pushing them back into their half when ever they could. With players missing Andy Ingle was forced into changing the formation but having the same back five was pivotal to the performance today. Having Chay Davey leading the line with the reliable Charley Norman, Claire Potter and Tina Potter takes off a lot of pressure not only on goalkeeper Emily Hallam but also the rest of the side. They mopped up everything thrown at them and limited the dangerous Long Eaton forwards from the off.

The first flash point saw Chloe Jordan foul the Long Eaton left back, only for her to retaliate and probably should have been sent off for her attack on the Arnold Youngster. However the referee saw it differently and punished them both with yellow cards. Once it settled down again player of the match Jen Lorimer took control of the midfield along side Elli Leathen and Chloe Jordan and their tenacious approach provided sniffs at goal for Natasha Leach and Molly Parker.

Whilst the tempo of the game continued at the high level it was the home side that had the first and decisive attempt at goal. Precious Hamilton showed why she has such a big reputation as she ran through the offside trap before cooly slotting the ball home for 1-0.

It was nice to see that none of the Arnold heads dropped and they carried on as before and although Long Eaton rattled the cross bar, they were still limiting the chances. Emily Hallam again taking the pressure of the side with a number of confident catches from corners as well as dominating her area brilliantly.

The second half was one where most would have expected the visitors to tire due to the industrial effort of the first half, and the potential league leaders to push for more goals. However this was never the case, as although Long Eaton saw a lot more of the ball, it wasn’t till the 75th minute that they really threatened as they hit the woodwork again. Arnold created five chances in the second 45 minutes but all from the edge of the area, the best coming from Natasha Leach who was well set up by Molly Parker, and who’s shot was well blocked by the last ditch tackle from the home sides centre back.

Cramp was becoming an issue and the back four certainly seemed to suffer more and at one point saw the team go down to nine players as Tina Potter recieved treatment on the sideline. For the effort put in 1-0 would have been a real shock scoreline considering the circumstances but they were unable to hold out and in the 85th minute, a shot from the edge of the area found the far corner of the net for 2-0.

Overall the players can all be extremly proud of themselves as no one could have given any more. Hopefully a few players will be coming in or back to fitness in the next couple of weeks, but the core of the team are a group of players that are clearly hungry to take this club places and long may that continue!!

Team: Hallam, Potter C, Potter T, Davey, Norman, Lorimer, Leathen, Jordan, Leach, Parker

The Ladies second team came from 1-0 down away at Sherwood to win 2-1 with 81 and 83 minute goals from Hannah Hughes returning the side to the top of the league.

The Under 18’s lost 4-0 away at Cosby and the Under 16’s were beaten at Eagle Valley 1-5 by Calverton MW Colts U16.