Match kicked off with a strong wind blowing down the length of the pitch. Moulton had the wind with them in the first half but on 3G the through balls mostly ran out of play. Only Cat with her free kicks seemed to handle the wind.
Play was even for the first 10 minutes with Moulton players finding it hard to get the ball on the deck and play passing football.
After 11 1/2 minutes Callie attacked the ball and drove forward but lost possession and Harpole broke, Hayley attacked the ball but was beaten by her opponent. Cat tried to get across but Harpole’s lively number 9 surged forward and calmly beat Moulton’s keeper for 1-0 Harpole.
After 15 minutes Harpole tried to play short from their keeper and made a mess of it, Chloe won the ball on the goal line and slid it across the goal where Sophie was waiting for a tap in but at the last second number 6 of Harpole got her toe to the ball and took it away from Sophie.
On 20 minutes Harpole broke again and Moulton’s defence was again caught out and Harpole’s number 9 found herself just inside the left corner of Moulton’s box, she took a touch then hit a hard shot that went over Moulton’s keeper for 2-0 Harpole.
Chloe continued to run and work up front but had very little support and Moulton’s players seemed out of sorts after the long Christmas break.
Cat took a very good free kick on 35 minutes that just eluded the Moulton attackers and the ball was again cleared . Half Time 2-0 Harpole.
The Moulton players came out for the 2nd half against the wind and it should have helped them. However the 2nd half was fairly uneventful. Chloe worked hard up front but with little support until she was joined by Sophie. Sophie Nash worked hard down the left flank without really causing the Harpole defence any problems. After about 70 minutes a fracas kicked off involving I believe Harpole’s number 11. Several Moulton players joined in and the incident was soon sorted without any bookings needed.
Sophie Gates made a welcome return and worked very hard alongside Antonella in midfield but again there was little cohesion between attack and midfield. Defence was stronger in the second half and just one lapse saw Harpole number 9 almost complete a hat trick with a hard shot from 20 yards out that smacked against the post and away. The game fizzled out with Harpole 2-0 winners. A disappointing result for Moulton. On to Crick away next week.