Glassgirls Stay Top With Another Big Win

Alex Nicklin and Lili-Beth Bown netted twice each, and there were goals too for Cheryl Edwards, Carly Aldred and Niamh Murphy – her first for the Club – whilst Club Captain Courteney Murphy (pictured) marked her first appearance of the season with two stunning late strikes to round off the victory.

The win sent the Glassgirls into their big FA Cup tie against Derby County in good spirits after a fine second half display in particular.

“it’s so good to have Court back,” said manager Andy Fisher afterwards. “You could see she was rusty after six months out, but just her presence was a lift for everyone. And that quality is always there even if she is inevitably short of fitness at this stage.”

“We were off the pace before the break – not the first time I’ve said that this season – but we sorted ourselves out and the second half was a big improvement. The pace of our play, our movement, everything was 100% better.

“We needed the points after the Coundon game was called off the week before, and with a couple of Cup games coming up, just to keep the pot bubbling really in the League.”

Stour were slow to get going in a slightly lacklustre first half. Nicklin and Bown both saw chances come and go before EDWARDS opened the scoring on 15 minutes nudging the ball past the keeper from close range, but Andy Fisher’s side failed to build on their advantage against a Sphinx side who showed some good touches at times but couldn’t make any serious headway against Stour’s resilient defence.

Nicklin curled another effort off target, then saw her deflected free kick grabbed by the keeper after Aldred’s mazy run had been stopped on the edge of the box, and then put a free header over the bar from Louisa Butcher’s cross, but it wasn’t until the final minute of the half that ALDRED added to the lead with a close-range header from Millie Rogers’ cross, although Sphinx almost hit back with their best effort of the afternoon, a 25 yard free kick which Amie Preston dived the left to palm away.

The second half saw a different Glassgirls side however, Nicklin and Edwards both going close in the early stages, and they were three goals to the good on 52 minutes as NICKLIN drove at the defence, beat her opponent and fired low to the keeper’s left.

The goal opened the floodgates and Stour added three more before the hour mark. BOWN capitalised after another Aldred run ended with her shot blocked on the line, nodding in from a yard out, and then Aldred again caused mayhem with a threaded ball to split the Sphinx defence allowing NICKLIN to take the ball round the keeper and tap into the empty net, before Edwards picked out BOWN in the box a minute later to fire in the sixth with a crisp first-time finish.

Gee Thacker fired over from just outside the area as Stour attacked relentlessly, before NIAMH MURPHY popped up in the right place to tuck in another excellent ball from Edwards to make it seven.

But it was her namesake COURTENEY MURPHY who had the final say. Lurking on the edge of the penalty area, Aldred found her with a clever corner and the skipper’s instinctive volley flew low past the Sphinx keeper, and she rounded off the afternoon with a free kick arrowed into the top corner from all of 25 yards.