Actonians 0 - 3 Worthing

For the third successive Sunday it was a home game for Actonians. Coming off the back of a heavy defeat at the hands of Norwich City in the league and an early exit from the Plate losing to Cambridge United it was important to get something out of today’s game. Worthing were the visitors to Rectory Park.

With just under 10 minutes gone the first effort of the game was for the home side. Maria going on a solo run but seeing her shot get blocked. However with Actonians creating very little after that Worthing had the upper hand throughout the first half and took the lead with a quarter of an hour on the clock. Samantha Quayle slotting her shot past Elisa. Worthing had a couple more efforts, including a free kick saved by Elisa, but had to wait until just before half-time to double their lead. Becki Bath getting the goal which gave Worthing the 2-0 lead. A scoreline that truly reflected how the game was going.

An excellent save from Elisa 4 minutes into the second half kept the score at 2-0 temporarily but with 52 minutes gone Becki Bath was sent through again and converted for her second of the game and Worthing’s third. A long way back for Actonians now. Substitutions in the 55th and 56th minutes saw Amber and Izzy replace Justine and Sarah. On the hour a cheeky back heel from Shakes almost sent Amber through on goal but her effort was blocked. Shakes came off after 69 minutes being replaced by Tori. On 77 minutes having made all their substitutions, Worthing had to see the game out a player short after an injury. This seemed to inject a little bit more life into Actonians and on 79th minutes the Worthing keeper was called into her first real bit of action of the game, saving well from Maria. Jas and Maria had efforts not hit the target in the last 10 minutes and Izzy saw her 90th minute free kick go over the bar but it was all too little too late. Full time 0-3.

Unfortunately not a good afternoon at all and Actonians were well beaten by a Worthing side that looked like they had a couple more gears if they would have needed them. A couple of saves from Elisa and a hard working backline keeping Worthing at bay as much as possible kept the scoreline more respectable than it could have been but we were always second best in the middle of the park. Given the efforts in defence my player of the match today was Jess with Olivia and Jennie not far behind. Just a few days away from another opportunity to try and put things right with the short trip to the Powerday stadium to meet local rivals QPR.

Report by Neil Hayward