Argyle Women lost 5-0 at Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Fulham did all their goalscoring in the first period. They took the lead on 10 minutes when Rianna Dean scored with a well-place header, and added to the lead seven minutes later through Charlotte Estcourt. The Argyle players were furious about what they felt was a handball in the lead-up, but the goal stood.
Shortly afterwards, it was three. Anna Grey was the first to a loose ball to complete a nine-minute period where the hosts had taken the game by the scruff of the neck.
Three minutes before the interval Estcourt had her second goal, managing to get some space in the area to force home, and then Sophie Gillies made it 5-0 in first-half injury time, with an easy tap-in.
In the second half, Argyle were stronger and resolutely battled on, and while the scoreline will not feel good, they deserve some credit for never letting heads drop.
Head Coach Matt Green said: ”The character and resilience that the group showed in the second half, after going in at the break five down, was fantastic. Their workrate out of possession throughout the 90 minutes was really good. We are looking to take positives from every game we play, and there were definitely positives from a resolute second-half performance.
“We were obviously disappointed to go in 5-0 down; we made a few mistakes. However, we are learning, developing every single week, every single day. And that will take time.”
Argyle: 1 Olivia Giles, 4 Aliyat Lambe, 5 Ellie M Bishop (18 Farrah Ambrose, 59), 9 Laura Curnock, 14 Shana Dolbel, 15 Kiesha Walker, 16 Sienna Gilbert, 17 Kennedy Garside, 21 Chloe Ingrouille (23 Phoebe Bettey, 77), 24 Ellie J Bishop (26 Mia Burrows, 82), 25 Khloe Reed. Substitutes: 29 Aimee Walters.