MATCH REPORT: Republica 1:3 Brighouse Athletic Ladies

In the second fixture of our Super Sunday, Republica Women were solid opponents against Brighouse Athletic in the second round of the County Cup. Despite being drawn against a team the division above, Republica gave a spirited performance and were unlucky not to hold Brighouse to a draw.

Republica started confidently, attacking from the first touch of the ball and keeping Brighouse on the defence for the first 20 minutes of the game. Keeper May Martin and a well rehearsed back four of Georgia Ellis, Rachel Grima, Cathy Brennan and Gemma Taylor worked calmly to keep Brighouse’s quick attackers at bay, allowing midfielders Molly Asher, Dolores Terzonie and Hilary Rees to feed wingers Tania Aghanian and Lorna Gledhill, and striker Talin Aghanian.

Republica found themselves unlucky in front of goal, with Brighouse’s keeper and defenders scrambling to clear early shots from Asher and Aghanian. However, Aghanian finally found the back of the net following a through ball from Gledhill and a knock-on by Asher, leaving Brighouse trailing 1:0. However, Brighouse came out fighting for the rest of the first half, managing to equalise and then score another before the 45 minutes were out.

For the second half, Gledhill was replaced on the right wing by Laura Simcock, and Kamilla Klausholm took Terzonie’s place in central midfield. Despite some great attacking play by Rees and Simcock on the right, Republica could not find another goal in those final 45 minutes. Eventually, Brighouse’s strikers exploited tired legs to increase their lead to 3:1.

With Ellie Rose Gordon replacing Brennan for the last 20 minutes of the game, Republica continued to press Brighouse and our opponents were lucky not to have had a pass-back to keeper noticed by the referee. As the final whistle blew, Brighouse left the pitch with a 3:1 win, a score pretty unrepresentative of the 90 minutes of football played.

Now, we don’t progress to the next round of the cup. However, Republica definitely gave Brighouse more of a game than they were expecting and proved that they were more than capable of holding their own against more experienced teams.

Republica Women return to league fixtures next week, and hey, we always preferred league games anyway… right?

Player of the match went to star defender Georgia Ellis, after 90 minutes of keeping Brighouse’s quick wingers at bay!

NEXT FIXTURE: Dewsbury Rangers vs Republica Women (25.11.18)