Ben Rhydding Ladies 0 Brooklands Poynton 5

Ben Rhydding Ladies had high hopes for their match against steely top of the Investec Conference North side Brooklands Poynton after only suffering a narrow loss against them in their previous encounter.

The match opened at a fast pace with Booklands Poynton display-ing their well-oiled process play.

After just six minutes, a well- drilled team link up saw them convert their first shot into a goal.

Not to be perturbed, Ben Rhydding fought back with resolve, with Jess Purvis and Sarah Bell connecting well at inside forward.

However, soon after, a costly mistake saw Rhydding turn over possession in a crucial area of the pitch.

Poynton pounced on this opportunity, sending a ball to their high forward, who slotted it through to Annabelle Watton at the top of the D. Watton fired home to put her side two in front.

Under a lot of pressure, it fell to full backs Rachelle LeBourdon and Tanisha Janzen to alleviate some of the strain by producing some fantastic passes out of their defending zone.

Hard running from centre half Jodie Bridger meant that space was freed for Eleanor Trafford to run into, receive from LeBourdon and release to left half and last week’s player of the match, Helen Fisher.

The score remained at 2-0 until just before half-time, when Poynton found a foot in the D to win a short corner.

The ball was struck into the crowded penalty spot area and then expertly deflected into the roof of the net past goalkeeper Charlotte Smith.

A windy second half opened with more of the same in terms of possession. Brooklands Poynton dominated with Ben Rhydding seemingly on the back foot against this strong opposing side.

However, they did hold Brook-lands off for another 20 minutes before Poynton’s Charlotte Jack-son converted a straight strike at a penalty corner to put the visitors 4-0 ahead.

Determination and high work rate from forwards Rachel Doherty and Kate Hesketh played Jen Wilson into Poynton’s D with the keeper who attempted to tackle but instead gave away a penalty stroke.

Wilson stepped up to take the flick and aimed low and hard into the bottom right corner. Poynton’s goalkeeper proved why their goals-against tally is so impressive, by pulling off a diving save to touch the ball wide.

Questionable umpiring left Ben Rhydding with ten players, after Fisher was yellow carded, despite being nowhere near the challenge.

Three minutes before the full time whistle blew, great tracking back and channelling from Laura Smith and Jo Taylor couldn’t prevent Brooklands from winning another short corner.

This time it was Sarah Newman smashing the ball into the back of the net, after Smith had made two fine saves.

Ben Rhydding take some positives from the match and look to Saturday’s away fixture at Durham for a boost as they look for crucial league points.