Match Report

Darwen Ladies travelled to Ellesmere Port Sports Village to face top of the table Tranmere Rovers on the back of a hard fought home win against Crewe Alexandra.

The Salmonesses in Red started brightly and their first chance of note came after Ten minutes as Joanna Duckworth headed the ball into the arms of the goalkeeper from a Ali Johnson corner.

This was a wake up call for the hosts and they came back into the game, Taylor Gregson did well to recover from a defensive mix-up as Rovers pushed forward but the Darwen defence remained resolute when under the cosh.

Darwen came back into life on the Twenty minute mark as Ali Johnson had a long range effort tipped round the post. The resultant corner was met again by Duckworth but this time her header sailed wide of the right hand post.

On Thirty-Three minutes, Ali Johnson broke dangerously down the left and crossed for Heslip who headed wide. This was Darwen’s best chance of the first period.

Darwen’s period of first half dominance came and went as Tranmere came back into the contest. Five minutes before the break, Sophie Flynn did excellently to head off the line but their goal was breached just before the interval as Katie Bowers Folan found space at the back post to tuck open the opener. 1-0.

Tranmere started the second half as they ended the first. Taylor Gregson got down well to her left hand post to save well from close range moments after the restart.

In the Fifty-Eighth minute, manager Kieran Wood performed a double change bringing on Pottinger and Walker, pushing Lilly Smith further forward. A change that would turn the game on it’s head. From then on in, it was all Darwen.

On the half hour mark, Maddy McKenna from Twenty Yards unleashed a vicious hot that rattled the underside of the crossbar. It wasn’t long until the striker broke the deadlock as only Five minutes later from a similar area, McKenna found space and smashed the ball over Size in the Tranmere goal into the roof of the net. 1-1.

The Salmonesses surged forward and created a few half chances whilst the game became stretched but the defensive pairing of Maxine Smith and Joanna Duckworth marshalled the backline superbly dealing with any long balls launched towards the area by the hosts.

In the Eight-Second minute, Darwen thought they had their chance to win the game. Lilly Smith met a cross at the back post but didn’t connect with the ball strongly enough to turn the ball home.

This didn’t deter Darwen from fighting into the dying embers of the match for a decisive winner. They got their reward in injury time as Ali Johnson marauded down the left wing, she found some space and drove an unstoppable shot directly into the top corner. Jubilation for the Salmonesses! 1-2

Darwen controlled the remainder of injury time as the hosts ran out of steam, deflated by the late goal and hung on to claim all Three Points.

They now move up to second in the table and next up they welcome West Didsbury and Chorlton to the Anchor Ground on Sunday.