On Saturday 14 December Bootham Ladies entertained Bolton Women in the latest round in the WSS Women’s Cup. Bootham were on a 5-game unbeaten run but knew that Bolton, a team with 4 full England Internationals in their squad and last year’s tier 1 league champions, would pose a serious threat.

Nikki Brown returned to squad, but Rowan Treagus and Kim Samson were absent. Again, goalkeeping duties were shared between the excellent Allegra Sellschop-Evans and Katie Samson.

The starting 5 were Charlotte Broad, Nikki Brown, Jess Barnes, Allegra Sellschop-Evans (GK) and Natasha Eustance. On the bench were Ellie Whittaker (C), Ruby Shaw, Ava Worthy, Heather Smith, Jess Baker and Katie Samson (GK).

1st Half

Bootham flew out of the traps and within the first 60 seconds should have been in front. Great work saw Eustance’s shot saved and somehow Brown couldn’t force the rebound home. Next a long shot from Broad flew past the far post with the keeper beaten. Moment later Eustance lobbed over from close range after a long pass from Broad. Eustance was again denied before Bolton scored. Chances for Eustance and Shaw went begging before Bolton scored again. Bootham came roaring back and Whittaker scored with a deft flick. Approaching half time and Bolton flew their keeper and scored 3 well worked goals.

Half Time – Bootham 1 – 5 Bolton

2nd Half

Bootham started the 2nd half well, looking after the ball and moving it around. A long range shot from Eustance was easily saved before an individual mistake gifted Bolton another goal. In the move of the game, covering the whole court and featuring every player, Shaw saw her shot saved by the Bolton keeper for what would have been one of the goals of the season. Moments later, Bootham got their rewards when another good passing move saw Broad place the ball into the corner of the net. Late into the game Bolton flew their keeper again and scored another 3 goals as the Bootham players tired.

Full Time – Bootham 2 – 9 Bolton

Coach Chris spoke to us after the game, and said, ‘You would think from the result I would be very disappointed, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. I do believe the scoreline really did flatter Bolton and we know we should have got more out of the game. Some of the play, especially in the first 10 minutes was a good as anything we have played this season, and we could have been 3-0. That said when you play against top quality sides you must take your chances, and Bolton punished us with their clinical finishing. This is something we must learn; we must put our chances away or later in the game you will get punished.’

When asked about playing against the fly goalkeeper, he said, ‘We knew Bolton would come and fly at some point, we have looked at defending in this situation and at times we did manage to frustrate them for a good period, but again, you switch off for one moment and you get punished. We will revisit this going forward and look at how we can be better.’

Finally, he finished by saying, ‘We always knew this game was going to be very difficult, but I will take the positives from what we did over the negatives any day. We controlled parts of the game and really did hurt Bolton during this time, something I will look at and work on. If we are going to progress and keep moving forward, we must play these tier 1 sides and see what are missing and the areas we need to work on. It’s been a great 2024 for the ladies’ team and I honestly can’t wait for 2025 and what happens next.’

Player of the Match as chosen by the match sponsors was Jess Baker – Jess has had a slow start to the season but today she was back to her brilliant best. Her out of possession play was as good as anyone on the court and her passing and vision caused Bolton problems all day.

Huge well done to our match day mascot Maja who braved her broken elbow to come down and support the ladies. One of the amazing U12s, this season Maja has been brilliant in all the games she has played and we can’t wait to welcome her back to playing in the New Year!

A few images from the day…