Hepworth ding dong the Belles

Brayton Belles were the visitors to Far Lane, Hepworth as the home side looked to continue their recent run of good form. The home side were made to change into their away kit as Braytons royal blue and yellow kit was too close to Hepworths usual kit, their opponents kit was very striking and resembled a Minions suit. Hepworth had the added benefit of their club captain Kirsty McCluskey back in the squad following a recent accident that had kept her on the sidelines for way too long. It was McCluskey who inside the first minute should have put her side a goal to the good but her shot was straight at the keeper. The captain redeemed herself just a minute later when from a very acute angle she fired her shot from outside the 18 yard box close to the dead ball line up and over the keeper to open the scoring. Hepworth were playing some great football with slick passing and great off the ball running which was tearing their opponents apart. On 14 minutes Brayton broke away against the run of play and keeper Harper was quick off her line to block however the rebound fell to an opponent who slotted home the equaliser. Hepworth were stirred on by this and Rebecca Purchon raced through the parting defence and could not believe her luck as she was shown a clear path to goal however her shot was wide of the target and nearly ended up in the new clubhouse construction site behind the goal. As Brayton relied on the punt and chase method for their pacey striker it was down to Abigail Iggleden to snuff out the threat, which she did fantastically in fact she had the striker in her pocket that long I think she is still in there.On 16 minutes from a Amy Thompson corner Rebecca Purchon shot just wide again. Hepworth kept surging forward with Amy Thompson having a great game teasing and testing the away sides defence at every opportunity. It was from her cross on 23 minutes that caused chaos in the goal mouth and recent signing Merita Prebrezova scored her first goal for her new side stabbing the ball home from close range. Thompsons strike partner Hannah Nicholl used her big 5 ft 5 inch height at every opportunity winning header after header against bigger opponents. She was bullied and bashed all over the place but was rarely offered a free kick, however Nicholl is a tough character and kept working hard and closed down the keeper well causing many a problem. McCluskey fired a shot just wide on 28 minutes but less than a minute later Hepworth went 3-1 ahead as Purchon went on a run from her own half and the Brayton defence parted like the sea of Galilee. Purchon kept her head and advance before sending a rocket of a shot past the keeper from 22 yards out for her first goal of the season. Brayton did have several chances themselves but either poor finishing or quality defending by Purchon, Page,Pashley and Iggleden kept them at bay. Harper had very little to do other than the odd corner as her defence latched on to the long punts and calmly played the ball back for Harper to clear. It was from one such move where Harper passed to Purchon who advanced up field and passed to Jo Forrest. A quick turn and pass saw Hannah Nicholl clean through but the keeper saved well to deny Nicholl for the umpteenth time. Nicholl finally got her reward for her efforts when McCluskey crossed in to the six yard box and Nicholl jumped and headed home beating the keeper who was twice her height. The Brayton keeper did seem some what unorthodox opting to kick wildly when collecting the ball was often easier and Nichol and Thompson were aware and tried to exploit this. Hannah Nicholl was unlucky not to score her second right on half time as she was one on one with the keeper but saw her shot pushed wide for a corner.Playing down the slope for the second half Hepwort's crowd expected more goals but were disappointed as the away side put players behind the ball. It wasn't through lack of effort or trying as Thompson,Nicholl and the midfield quartet of McCluskey Prebrezova, Smith and Forrest all had chances and caused problems. Hepworth swapped McCluskey for Amy Thompson and Pashley for Lauren Brown, neither having done anything wrong just that Captain McCluskey had run herself into the ground and Brown being a straight swap at left back. Hepworth were playing without a care in the world and enjoying themselves and in Smith's and McCluskey's own words were "playing Sexy Football" spectators later said it was the best performance of the season. Lucy Page aka "Woody" and Abigail Iggleden were able to start pushing from deep probing their opponents goal. It was from one such run by "Woody" in the 75th minute that an opponent was adjudged to handle the ball in the box. "Woody" grabbed the ball and took control no way was anyone going to take the penalty but her. Her resulting spot kit was however shot wide to "Infinity and beyond" as Buzz Lightyear would say. Thompson was forced to leave the pitch shortly after due to a calf injury and the home side made a third substitution. On 87 minutes Brayton were awarded a soft penalty themselves and pulled a goal back to make it slightly more respectable looking, when really it should have been a cricket score. That said it was 3 points in the bag and Hepworth moved up into third place. It was going to be a difficult choice for the Keystone Europe Ltd player of the match award as no player had a bad game but returning captain Kirsty McCluskey snatched the vote from several other contenders. If Hepworth keep up the performances like this they will give any team a game and hopefully be up there near the top of the table come May.