A new year, a new decade and a brand new coach for the Wandsworth Borough Women's team going into their first game of 2020. The last game of the group stages of the cup saw the ladies face off against Woking reserves on a chilly and overcast Sunday morning. Their previous meeting earlier in the season in the league produced a 1-1 draw so it was expected to be a close game. Spirits were very high and confidence massively boosted amongst the team due to the appointment of their new coach David Newland over the Christmas period. This was reflected in the number of players on the day as 15 ladies (their biggest turn out of the season so far) turned up ready, willing and more than able to play.

Borough booted into the first half from the kick-off with a long ball played through from Kirsty Mulchahey down the right-wing to Gemma Priest who was set upon by one of the Woking players very quickly. Quick feet and passing from Hannah Richards swapped play onto the left wing to Sophie Kelly seeing her play a nice pass into the path of Katie Braithwaite who narrowly missed out on a nice cross into the box. Clearances and goal kicks from Woking were met in the middle of the park by Kirsty Mulchahey who headed them back into the danger areas to be exploited by a very sharp Laura Mott. Woking were relying heavily on playing the offside trap to stop Laura Mott's efforts who was running onto through balls from the midfield and causing havoc among their centre backs. A drive down the right-hand side by Gemma Priest 15 minutes in forced a free-kick just outside the opposition’s 18-yard box. Up stepped Kirsty Mulchahey to deliver a beautiful ball into the box finding Laura Mott who jumped between two defenders to header home a cracking first goal for the ladies.

Attacks continued from the ladies down both wings and through the centre with brilliant through balls and Laura Mott nipping at the heels of the Woking defence. A drive down the left-hand side by Sophie Kelly saw her play an impressive pass into the feet of Laura Mott who ploughed on into the 18-yard box and around the goalkeeper to hammer home the ladies’ second goal.

30 minutes in and the first sub for the ladies taking off Sophie Kelly due to a hamstring strain. Lisa Manley stepped in to fill her shoes on the left-hand side and got stuck in straight away playing some nice passes into Katie Braithwaite and the opposition's box.

Woking were piecing together some nice moves down their right-wing and through the centre but they were weathered by Borough’s back 4 brilliantly. Chloe Russell had stepped out from her sweeper-keeper role into the centre of defence next to captain Emma Connell to make way for our returning goalkeeper Amy Jenkins. Both centre backs cut out through balls and played out to the wings spreading the play well. Rachel Marshall was solid and reliable as ever at Right back playing balls onto the midfield when in possession and Lois Freedman retained her Left back position putting in another strong performance linking well down the left-hand side with Lisa Manley. Amy Jenkins made a couple of very impressive saves and showed some amazing shot-stopping abilities on several occasions. She came out to meet the ball and cleared or collected it confidently to prevent more shots on the Borough goal.

Woking forced two corners one after the other after a couple of impressive runs from their central midfielders. The second corner saw a scrappy bundle in the Borough box resulting in a goal being poked away for Woking making it 2-1 two minutes before the end of the first half. This, as we all know, is the worst time to concede and the ladies needed a reassuring half time team talk from their new coach to ensure they went into the second half in the right frame of mind.

Some brilliant words of wisdom, a tactical talk through positioning and movement up and down the park and a whole load of praise from David Newland made the ladies want to go and put the game to bed very quickly. Woking kicked off the second half and made for a drive down their right-hand side which was cleared for a throw-in by Lois Freedman. The ladies got their shape back and marked up and Gemma Priest was told to push up into space by coach David Newland to exploit a ball coming across from the left. The ladies won back possession with Hannah Richards playing a ball into the feet of Lisa Manley who crossed the ball into Gemma Priest. She controlled in down, shifted to the right and slotted it past the keeper low to her left making it 3-1 and giving the ladies back their more comfortable lead.

Several more attacks came from the ladies down both wings and through the centre. They were hungry and wanted a fourth goal and were being spurred on every step of the way from the sidelines. 60 minutes in a ball played through from Kirsty Mulchary to Lisa Manley saw her dribble around 2 defenders and play a square ball across to Laura Mott who was on fire and wanting her hat-rick more than anything. She controlled the ball down and blasted the ball over the keeper into the top corner of the net completing her hat-trick and definitely putting her stamp on the game. Shortly after the next kick off Hannah Lovell came on for Laura Mott who received a well-deserved round of applause and a well-deserved rest.

The ladies were playing some excellent football and putting some lovely passes together keeping possession and ploughing forward where possible. 77 minutes in unfortunately saw a looping shot find its way into the back of the Borough net when the ladies switched off momentarily and didn't clear their lines from a corner. They picked themselves back up and got stuck straight in with trying to keep possession for as long as possible and drive forward down the wings. The word of the day was "DRIVE" with coach David Newland telling Gemma Priest and Rachel Marshall to drive into space and take advantage of making overlapping runs at every opportunity. The advice was don't be afraid to drive with the ball and that is exactly what Kirsty Mulchahey did in the 82nd minute. She passed two defenders superbly to strike home Borough's fifth of the match and seal the game’s fate. Borough saw the game home and could have had a sixth or even a seventh when Hannah Lovell got through on goal twice but her efforts were blocked by defender and goal keeper.

It was an amazing performance from the Borough Ladies who enjoyed the game and worked extremely hard throughout. Some of the ladies played their best game of the season so far particularly Laura Mott who has found her form and confidence once more in her new role upfront. We can see that this is the start of many new and exciting things to come throughout the rest of the season for the Borough and with their experienced new coach David Newland "DRIVING" them forward they will be hoping to challenge for the league title. Next up for the ladies are the league leaders. This will be a game not to be missed...