Flying start sets up City Women for Portishead victory

Three goals in the first 17 minutes helped Bath City Women to a comfortable win at Portishead Ladies Reserves. Rosie Burridge got the ball rolling on four minutes. Having received a pass from Maddy Brown on the left, Burridge’s persistence saw her shrug off Iola Avery before striking through Katelyn Dorbon at her near post. Burridge made it two on the quarter hour with a fabulous lofted effort from 30 yards and two minutes later Tia Mahadevan got in on the act. Adella Clarke was initially bravely thwarted by Dorbon but the ball ran loose to Mahadevan who calmly rolled past two players on the line from the edge of the box. Portishead had created openings themselves with Ella Howes nodding wide and Maisy Ruffle shooting over the angle of post and crossbar, but a few knocks in their side disrupted rhythm and this theme continued in the second half. Howes fell to the ground in agony and eventually hobbled off with a knee injury, and City lost Brown minutes later with what was later confirmed as a fractured ankle. These stoppages clearly left the players distracted as there were few openings for either side after the break. Dorbon did well to snuff out Amy Key as she ran clear and Lucy Clay batted away a long distance drive during 10 minutes of added time. She claimed a third clean sheet in all competitions this season as the Romans maintained their 100% winning start away in the league ahead of their 100th competitive fixture next week.