Kingston’s ladies football team took a hammering in their opening game, conceding 11 goals.
Matt Wilson
Kingston women’s football team received a wake-up call in their first competitive match of the season, as Brunel University firsts beat them 11-1.
Kingston battled hard in the first half against a superior side, technically and physically, who smashed in eight second half goals.
Kingston coach, Sam Merison, was disappointed with some of Kingston’s play, but acknowledged the difficulty of playing such a strong team.
Coach Merison said: “There were some positives. We worked very hard but a lot of their players have come from Arsenal, Chelsea and teams like that. I expect they’ll win this division.”
Brunel were dominant from the beginning and were 2-0 up within six minutes. An excellent finish from midfielder Gina Johnson into the bottom corner from the edge of the box gave them the lead.
Four minutes later, Brunel’s left-midfielder, Emma Davies, scored her first of five for the afternoon after a brilliant through ball and cross led to an easy finish from six yards.
Things got worse for Kingston as captain, Flo Amess, hobbled off with a leg injury.
Kingston nearly got back into the game when striker Hiruth Stautland made a chance out of nothing with a jinking run past two Brunel defenders, but a low save from the Brunel goalkeeper kept the score at 2-0.
After 12 minutes Flo was substituted for Lynn Badu. Hiruth Stautland came deeper looking for the ball. Her tenacity and work-rate gave Kingston a stronger centre in front of Kingston’s centre backs, who were keeping Brunel’s centre-forward quiet.
Brunel attacked superbly down the wings though, with left winger Davies’s pace and skill creating trouble for the Kingston right-back.
Kingston held strong until a clever short corner was then chipped to the back post on the 25th minute for a simple finish. Kingston hit back just two minutes later when Charmaine True hit a superb free-kick into the top corner from almost 25 yards out.
Brunel had more possession for the rest of the half but could not find a way through.
The second half was a real goal-fest for Brunel as Kingston, clearly exhausted, was over-run by an excellent Brunel side. Davies hit four second half goals and former Northern Ireland midfielder, Lois Roche, scored a brace, one a superb curler into the top corner, as Brunel ran rampant.
After the defeat coach Merison said: “Obviously we’re very disappointed at the result. We only have three players from last year.
“We’re a brand new team and unfortunately our first game of the new season was against a sporting university with many players on scholarships.”