Cambridge Women Reserves 2, Thorpe United Ladies 7

Thorpe Ladies travelled to Cambridge with just 12 players due to injury and illness and into the squad came Emma and Hannah.

It was perfect weather for football with no breeze and the opening exchanges of the match showed this with both teams playing some neat, lively football.

But it was Thorpe who took an early lead when Bex raced clear and finished her first chance of the afternoon superbly.

The game was going from end to end and Kirsty was alert in goal to thwart a couple of dangerous Cambridge attacks.

A brilliant run and pass from Bex set Meg up to slot home number two for Thorpe.

However Cambridge responded well and a rasping shot from just outside the area gave Kirsty no chance and Cambridge were right back in the game at 2-1.

Some good passing from Cambridge led to their dangerous number nine skipping through and knocking the ball goal bound past Kirsty, but from nowhere Laura appeared and lunged superbly to scoop the ball off the line to preserve Thorpe’s lead.

Thorpe were working tremendously hard as a team to hold onto the lead and this effort was rewarded just before half-time when from a Thorpe attack the ball broke to Becky on the right-hand corner of the area and she slammed the ball past the stunned keeper.

Thorpe were buzzing at the start of the second half and it soon got better as Lauren sent in a speculative shot from long distance which evaded the keeper’s grasp and ended up in the net 4-1.

After the end-to-end chances of the first half Thorpe were now completely dominant as Cambridge heads dropped.

Then came the goal of the game when Becky struck a phenomenal shot from 25 yards that crashed into the net off the crossbar.

On a day when everything was going right for Thorpe, Kerry capitalised on another mistake by the keeper when, after her first shot was saved, she did well to follow up and bury the rebound for her first of the season.

With the game well and truly won, Cambridge got a consolation from a corner that was headed in.

But Thorpe restored their advantage when Charlotte finished well to get the goal her play deserved.

This was a really good display from Thorpe with all the players contributing to the performance.

Bex was again chosen by the opposition as player of the match, but for her tremendous work rate and great finishing Becky was Thorpe’s choice.