Bath City Women Development (1) 1 Ashton Women (1) 3 – Sunday 17 September 2023 – Somerset County WFL Division Two North – Twerton Park
Match Report by Ali Diegutis/Mark Stillman
Two late sucker-punches saw Bath City’s Development side suffer their first defeat of the season.
Edyta Sawon (2) and Georgina Needs netted for Ashton as Ali Diegutis’ first competitive goal for the club wasn’t enough for the hosts.
Sunday’s match was played at Twerton Park, one of a couple of games the venue will host for the Development side.
The defeat ends City’s 100% winning start to the campaign.
Tracey Hartnett’s side got off to a nervy start and conceded inside two minutes.
A harmless ball forward slipped through the grasp of Emilia Midwinter, on her first start, and Sawon seized the opportunity to tap home.
Having recovered well, the Romans levelled just past the half hour.
A corner from the left saw Diegutis’ initial cross cleared but the captain was on hand to thrash home swiftly after, giving the keeper no chance.
Ashton has Stephanie Monks sinbinned before the break and nearly fell behind 10 minutes after half-time when Ceris Evans escaped a defender only to hit the post.
In a tight-fought contest, the visitors gained the upper hand on 79 minutes. Hesitation between the otherwise impressive Sophie Dooling and Diegutis was capitalised by Needs who wriggled through and slotted into the bottom left corner, giving Midwinter no chance.
The Bristol-based side increased their lead within sixty seconds. Having lost the ball from kick-off, Sawon was put clean through and made no mistake, Midwinter again helpless.
City will be hoping to bounce back next Sunday when they travel to Cheddar.
City’s Line-Up: Midwinter; Hucker, T Davis, Diegutis, Jones; Dooling, Blake, L Davis, Golding; Evans, Fensome. Subs used: Allard, Nicholls, Wells. Sub not used: Hartnett.
Scorers: City – Diegutis (31); Ashton – Sawon (2, 80), Needs (79)
Referee: Chris Gannon