Thorpe United Ladies 3, Stevenage Borough 1

Thorpe bounced back superbly after last week’s humiliating defeat to collect their first points of the season.

United were up for this right from the off and threatened the Borough defence early on and almost took the lead when Emma hooked a shot that came back off the bar.

But the pressure soon paid off when Alice played a ball through to Charlotte whose strength took her past the last defender and she buried her shot past the advancing keeper.

More chances came with Bex a real threat and Sophie going past defenders with ease. Thorpe knew they needed to score more goals and 10 minutes before the break they went two up when a loose ball came to Maryanne on the corner of the area and she curled a lovely right-foot shot into the top corner of the net for her first goal for Thorpe.

It got even better for United moments later when Charlotte and Bex combined for the latter to score her first of the season with a typical Lakey finish.

At the start of the second half Charlotte had a glorious chance to make it 4 but the keeper managed to turn her shot onto the post.

Stevenage came into the game now starting to pose a threat but some good defending and good work rate from all Thorpe players kept the visitors at bay until 10 minutes from time when a long distance effort went in. Tiring Thorpe held out knowing now they are capable of competing at this level also knowing there is still a lot of hard work to do.

Player of the match (voted by opposition) Bex, (voted by Thorpe) Charlotte Groves.