Our ladies team were beaten 2-1 by Leafield Athletic in the Midland Women’s Combination League at One Call Stadium this afternoon.
The Stagettes raced into an early lead, thanks to Jemma Douglas’ close-range finish following a fine set-piece by Kelly Clayton.
Leigh Dughore equalised for Leafield before the interval, and the visitors collected maximum points courtesy of a sublime strike by Sam White.
Following their 2-2 draw with Leicester City Ladies last weekend, The Stagettes were eager to achieve their first win of the new campaign.
And on a blustery afternoon in North Nottinghamshire, they went ahead after only three minutes.
Kelly Clayton delivered a sublime corner towards the back-post, which found Jemma Douglas at the far-post, who slammed a powerful effort into the net.
The visitors struggled to deal with The Stagettes’ aerial prowess, and a few minutes later, Clayton and Douglas nearly combined once again.
On the quarter-hour mark, Charlotte Hughes came close to an equaliser as she hit the woodwork with an ambitious attempt from deep on the right flank.
However, the visitors were soon forced into some last-ditch defending, when another corner by Clayton caused havoc inside the six-yard box.
Kirsty Walton then came close with a speculative 30-yard free-kick midway through the first half, as The Stagettes continued to look dominant.
Nevertheless, Dughore spurned a gilt-edge chance to equalise, when she fired straight at Emma Horsnall in a one-on-one situation, before slicing the rebound wide.
Hayley Wilford also saw a looping 20-yard volley canon against the post and trickle away to safety, as the visitors enjoyed a bright spell of pressure.
The visitors eventually drew level on 33 minutes, when Wilford floated a cross into the six-yard box, which was emphatically guided home by Dughore.
With scores level at the interval, both teams would have fancied their chances of earning their first victory of the new campaign after the re-start.
But an uneventful second half saw little in the way of goalmouth action until the 67th minute, when Leafield established a 2-1 lead thanks to a thunderbolt strike by White.
White and Erin Flynn both went close to extending the visitors’ lead, before Georgina Williams headed over for our ladies after Gemma Hodgkinson’s pull-back cross in the dying stages.
Emma Allen came even closer to a last-gasp leveller in the final five minutes, when she glanced a header wide at point-blank range following another cross by Hodgkinson.
Stagettes: Horsnall, Davis, Bodle, Budge (c), Walton, Allen, Hodgkinson, Douglas, Clayton, Gelson, Montgomery (Williams). Unused Subs: Hard, Clarke, Scutt.
