Wymondham Ladies 1, Hethersett Ladies 1

Wymondham welcomed local team Hethersett to King’s Head Meadow on a sunny afternoon, looking to get a good pre-season run-out against some strong opposition.

Wymondham were sporting their new Macron home kit, sponsored by www.return2fitness.co.uk and the squad featured two summer signings to date; Mary Cann and Naomi Nixon.

Wymondham started at a high tempo, playing some good football, which was matched by Hethersett from back to front, creating a couple of early chances for Georgina Knight after good work from the midfield.

The defence looked tight, with Mez calm on the ball, Emma Williams ordering the defence, Becky Brown solid in the middle and Sophie Gibbons taking the fourth position in the defence, playing very strongly. With Louise Rout a constant threat on the left, linking well with Mez and Naomi giving a good account of herself on the right, there was more room for Laura Parry and Captain Natalie Woods to pull the strings in the centre of midfield. Helen Watts played very well, holding up the ball and linking well with Georgie Knight.

The first goal of the game was to Wymondham. After some good passing through midfield, Laura Parry’s pin-point through-ball found Helen Crisp who managed to poke to ball into the back of the net after some offside appeals. Hethersett woke up and put some pressure on Wymondham, but were unable to capitalise.

Their best chance was from two yards out, but Mez managed to slide infront of the goal and somehow clear it for a corner. Kerrie Smy replaced Sophie and played well and Rachael Carpenter caome on and her pace troubled Hethersett. Gemma Hamilton replaced Georgie to add more stability up front.

The half-time score was 1-0.

The second half started very similar to the first, but Wymondham were slightly off the pace, but Mez, Laura and Georgie were looking lively. Hethersett made a few changes for the second half, and played a lot better and this brought Christine into the game a little more, but was solid with all that was thrown at her.

With only a few minutes left on the clock, a Hethersett ball was played through the middle of Wymondham’s defence; there was a mix-up which ended up with the ball falling to a Hethersett striker to tuck the ball home to level the scores 1-1.

Wymondham played very well for their first pre-season and will take many positives from the game.

Player of the Match: Georgina Knight. Her pace troubled Hethersett for the whole match, and was very close on several occasions to getting on the score sheet.

Wymondham’s next game is Sunday August 14, at Norwich City Reserves, 2pm kick-off.