Second Half Blitz Puts Glassgirls Top!

After a goal-less first half in front of an impressive crowd of 233 at the War Memorial Ground, two goals each from Niamh Deasy and Lili-Beth Bown blew Posh away after the break as Stour assumed almost total control, although the game could have turned on the hour mark, with the Glassgirls just one goal up, when the visitors thought they had the ball over the line only for the assistant to decree otherwise.

Manager Andy Fisher was happy with his team’s performance, and in particular the way they dealt with the challenge of breaking down the visitors’ resolute first half defence.

“It was a very pleasing afternoon all round, not just because of the result but because of how the game went. Peterborough set up to negate us in the first half and they did it well. I think you could see we were getting a bit frustrated, not choosing the right options, not doing the things we know we need to do.

“We adapted at the break and it was a different game. The players have to take a lot of credit for that, having the intelligence to know what to change. Yes, we give them instructions, but it’s no good if they don’t then go and make it work on the pitch, and they did that today.

“I always thought we were the better team and if we got our noses in front we would go on and win. We had a bit of a shaky spell at 1-0, but we came through that, and once Lil got the second we weren’t going to let it slip.

“Credit to the defence as well. That’s another clean sheet, and it’s easy for that to go unnoticed sometimes. Since that opening day at Sheffield I can’t fault them for their consistency and attitude. It makes it so much easier for the front players to do their stuff knowing we’re secure at the back.”

The Glassgirls made a fast start in their last home game against Lincoln, and this time they were almost even quicker out of the blocks as Lili-Beth Bown’s speculative effort cannoned back off the bar inside the opening sixty seconds. Zoe Clarke prodded an instinctive shot wide shortly afterwards, and then Deasy’s lay-off gave Mill Rogers the chance for a crack from 20 yards which also drifted wide.

Amber Lawrence saw a shot palmed away by Nieve Corry, before the visitors showed their threat with a shot from Evie Driscoll-King that only found the side-netting from the corner of the penalty area.

Peterborough went close again as a misplaced clearance from Amie Preston was intercepted by Tara Kirk, but the keeper atoned for her error with a fabulous full stretch save to tip Kirk’s shot over.

Stour raised the tempo as the break approached, with Clarke glancing a header wide from Alex Nicklin’s free kick, Corry saving brilliantly from Lawrence again, and then Deasy firing not far over on the turn, but for all their hard work, Stour had to settle for stalemate at the break.

The second half proved to be a different story. Lawrence had already fired over on the stretch after good work from Rogers on the left, before NIAMH DEASY broke the deadlock on 51 minutes with a thumping close-range header from Nicklin’s free kick.

Posh responded well though, with Driscoll-King forcing Preston into another save, before the game’s major talking point saw Megan Lawlor’s free kick helped on towards goal by Driscoll-King with the visitors adamant the ball went over the line, while the assistant, who was as well placed as anybody, determining it didn’t.

With the game opening up, half-chances came and went at either end, but it was LILI-BETH BOWN who applied what felt a decisive blow with 15 minutes to go, controlling the ball after it had looped up off a defender from Clarke’s cross, and volleying emphatically past Corry.

Two became three almost instantly as Esme Moran was felled in the area, with NIAMH DEASY despatching the penalty (pictured above), and the fourth goal came with three minutes to play as Hannah Fishwick, on her return from injury, carved her way through the Peterborough defence before unselfishly squaring for LILI-BETH BOWN to fire home via a deflection.

Stourbridge line-up

Amie Preston, Jess Bate (Lyndsey Glover 77), Zoe Clarke, Sophie Levick, Sophie Heaselgrave, Ellie McGovern, Lili-Beth Bown, Alex Nicklin (Hannah Fishwick 74), Amber Lawrence (Esme Moran 66), Millie Rogers (Angie Morley 79), Niamh Deasy (Keren Allen 79).