Narrow loss for the U’s marred by serious injury to defender Ceri Flye…
A break from league action for the Women as we made the trip to Norwich City on Tuesday night for the first group stage game of the FA WNL Cup.
Ethan Scott made one change to the lineup that narrowly lost 1-0 to London Bees at Grange Road on Sunday as Mollie Coupar came in to replace Cheyanna Norman up front.
The hosts from the league above bossed much of the early possession and forced a good save from U’s captain Lauren Webb low to her right after 5 minutes.
However, the U’s worked their way back into the game and in the 17th minute we took the lead through forward Mollie Coupar.
Bell found herself in space down the right, beat her defender and whipped in a low cross that was finished expertly at the near post by Coupar, 1-0 U’s.
In the 19th minute the game was marred by a serious injury to U’s defender Ceri Flye, updates to follow.
After an extended period to allow medical officials to take care of Ceri, the game recommenced as Isabel Beeson replaced the injured Flye.
After 35 minutes, Lauren Webb was once again called into action to deny the Canaries an equaliser, sticking out a boot to deny a goal bound effort.
The U’s stopper’s efforts were in vain however as in the 43rd minute, a cutback from the left found Issy Moore in space, finishing high into the roof of the net, 1-1.
After the break, chances were kept to a minimum as both teams tussled to take control of the game and the U’s made a number of changes including Tomlinson, Norman and Shaw entering the game.
In the 69th minute, Norwich struck the decisive blow as another cut back from wide found Lauren Hailes in space to fire into the corner past a helpless Webb.
The U’s pushed for an equaliser in the final minutes, a handball on the edge of the box could’ve seen a penalty awarded but the referee deemed the action to have happened outside the box.
Despite our best efforts, the game finished 2-1, as we start our FA WNL Group Stage campaign with a loss.
Everyone at the club wishes defender Ceri Flye a speedy recovery.
Up next, the U’s welcome Dulwich Hamlet to Grange Road on Sunday (August 30th), looking to get back to winning ways.
Norwich City: Young, Williams, Daviss, Harrison (Martin, 58’), Densley (Kennard, 58’), Symonds (Groves, 70’), Hailes, Moore (Dunbar, 58’), Szczech (Riglar, 45’), Wilson, Booty
Subs Not Used: Calver, Johnson
Goalscorers: Issy Moore (43’), Lauren Hailes (69’)
Cambridge United: Webb ©, Jeffery, Flye (Beeson, 19’), Cook (Tomlinson), Miles, Coupar (Norman, 64’), Bell, Jarvis, Gambell, Bennett (Shaw, 81’), Strauss
Subs Not Used: Dixon, Jackson, Edgar
Goalscorers: Coupar (17’)
