Unlucky in Defeat

An improved performance and a wonderful goal from Wensday Wise was not quite enough for the Plymouth Argyle Women’s team to get off the mark in the FA Women’s National Southern Premier Division.

The Pilgrims went down to a 3-1 defeat at home to Chichester & Selsey Ladies on the weekend but produced a display that yielded more positives than negatives for manager Ryan Perks.

“We probably could have got something out of the game,” he said. “We’ve worked hard on the things we do out of possession in training, trying to make it harder for teams to play against, as well as being more aggressive with the press.

“The girls executed that plan superbly and we created a lot more chances. We still need to be a bit more clinical in front of goal and that is something we will work on in the future.”

After a bright start from Argyle, a defensive lapse handed the visitors a 1-0 lead at the break. The Greens responded with a decent period of pressure but were hit by the suckerpunch of a second goal from Chichester.

Wensday Wise then intervened with a glorious finish, steering a lovely effort into the top corner and Argyle were fully in the ascendancy, but were left frustrated when the officials failed to punish a second bookable offence that would have reduced the visitors to 10 players.

The sense of injustice only grew when Argyle defender Amy Wise produced an excellent clearance and was clearly fouled afterwards. The referee instead awarded a corner and Chichester secured the points with a goal from the resultant set-piece.

“We were a little disappointed with some of the decisions but even after going 3-1 down, we continued to create chances,” said Ryan. “We are moving in the right direction and will go to Portsmouth full of belief on Sunday.”

Goals from Beth Cowd, Dee Newman and Abbie Carveth helped Argyle’s development side to a 4-0 win over St Agnes Ladies.