Ladies v Coventry A postponed

THERE was a frustrating journey for Plymouth Argyle Ladies, whose team coach had reached Exeter on Sunday only for them to receive the message that their National Premier League Southern Division match at Coventry United had been called off because the pitch at Daventry Town was covered in standing water.

This was particularly disappointing for Argyle’s new signing England Under-20 international Jessica Jones, who had finally received international clearance from Canada to play.

Jones will have to wait to make her debut when Argyle travel to Queens Park Rangers on Sunday, September 30.  

With the first team game being called off, it was down to the Development team to take centre stage and they did not disappoint, winning their South West League Western Division match at Weston Mendip 3-0.

Argyle had the better of their opponents’ in the opening exchanges with midfielder Alex Hugh pulling the strings, and Kelly Vinnicombe nearly broke the deadlock when she received the ball from Jodie Randall and cut in from the left hand side, only to shoot just wide of a post.

Lucy Solloway was next to threaten when she skipped past one defender and then rounded the goalkeeper only to delay her shot and Weston managed to clear.

Argyle broke the home team’s resilience in the first half when Vicki Fannon exchanged passes with Kelly Vinnicombe, who played to ball to Alphous inside the penalty area. Her shot struck a post but young Nicola Chapman reacted the quickest to score from close range.  

The second half followed the same pattern as the first, with Argyle looking to wear down a very stubborn and well organised Weston team. They had to wait until midway through the half to double their lead when a cross from Randall found Hugh whose shot rebounded back to her and she laid off a perfect ball to substitute Shania Fenlon, who fired a low drive into the bottom corner of the net.

Weston almost reduced the arrears when a header from a corner was superbly saved by goalkeeper Amy Darnley, who started the move foe Argyle's third goal. Darnley made a clean catch through a crowd of players from a corner. A quick throw to Tamsin Medd-Gill set up a swift counter attack. Medd-Gill found Maya Ridge who carried the ball forward and played in Gabi Alphous who calmly slotted the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper to seal the win.

Argyle Development: Amy Darnley Tamsin Medd-Gill, Becky Parkyn (Morgan Friend) Vicki Fannon, Jodie Randall (Rachel Javan) Sally Salter (Maya Ridge) Alex Hugh, Kelly Vinnicombe, Gabi Alphous, Nicola Champion (Hannah Brock) Lucy Solloway (Shania Fenlon).