Mansfield Town 1 v Peterborough United 3 - East Mids Ladies League Prem

Sunday 13th January 2019
East Midlands Ladies League - Premier Division
at Kirklington Road, Rainworth Miners Welfare.
Mansfield Town (0) 1
Ann Dawson 80
Peterborough United (2) 3
Hannah Pendred 8, 65
Emma Stevenson 26

There is a very good reason that the village of Rainworth is surrounded by an above average conurbation of wind turbines; because when it gets breezy round these parts (i.e. most days), it chills you through to the bone. And this afternoon the diagonal gusts across the pitch, must've been edging towards the x-rated and obscene end of the measurement readings on Bert Foord's reconditioned anemometer, and possibly even registered on the Richter scale, as the corrugated iron stand stood opposite the dug outs rattled like it was about to be blown away at any moment.

It's something of an understatement to say that the weather conditions were effecting the flight of the ball and influenced the quality of this game at times, but kudos to both teams for battling against the elements and trying to make a proper go of it regardless.

Initially the visitors adapted their game to compensate for the conditions more readily than their hosts, and made good of the wind behind their backs during the first half and they went ahead in the eighth minute, when Stacey McConville advanced forward from the left hand side of midfield and lifted a diagonal pass into the run of Hannah Pendred through the right channel, who planted the ball just inside the right hand upright with her second touch.

Jessica Driscoll almost released McConville again, but Monica Bowley cut the ball out and the Stags cleared their lines, but Posh doubled their lead after twenty sixth minute minutes, when Kier Perkins played a sideways pass to Emma Stevenson who hooked the ball into the top left hand corner of the net from outside the area. "A sublime strike!" Offered one onlooker; "Wind assisted... unlucky keeper!" called out another.
The visitors looked to build on their lead as half time approached, but were denied by a goal-line clearance and the right hand post.
HT: Stags 0 v Posh 2

Ironically, the grey skies cleared briefly... and the sun made a belated appearance, just (as in about three minutes) before the interval, but it didn't get any warmer... and the storm clouds soon gathered again to remind us all it was still Winter after all, and that England is nowhere near the Equatorial circumference of planet Earth.

After the restart, Posh were now playing into the wind and it was causing them the same kind of frustrations in the final third that the home side had suffered in the first, but just after the hour mark, they made the breakthrough that all but sealed their win, when Pendred scored her second and Peterborough's third of the afternoon, when she added the finishing touch to Donna McGuigan's delivery into the area, with a well taken strike.

With ten minutes remaining, Ann Dawson made good of a spell of frantic activity in the visitors goalmouth and pulled a goal back for the Stags, but there was to be no grandstand finish or comeback on the cards for Mansfield, as Posh saw out the remainder of the game, with their two goal cushion still intact.

FT: Stags Ladies 1 v Posh Ladies 3

Next Sunday, the Peterborough Ladies will be looking to build on their winning start to the new year, when they travel to Leicester City (who lost 4-1 against the Stags last week). While Mansfield make the short trip to Eagle Valley, Oxton (NG5 8PS), where they'll meet Arnold Town in a Notts FA County Cup Quarter Final, that game kicks off at 1PM.