Goals from Jodi Cornwall and Laura Bray earned Yeovil Town Ladies a superb 2-0 victory over second place Gloucester City Ladies at Raleigh Grove on Sunday. Well into the second half of the season the female Glovers remain unbeaten, having won all but one of their matches, and this latest three points saw them pull five points clear at the top of the league, still on course for promotion back to the FA Woman’s Premier League.
"It was a hard fought win," joint boss Nigel Williams said after the game. "We expected a tough contest from a well organised Gloucester side, and that is just what we got. We put in a good performance, took our chances well, and fully deserved the points. Sarah (Fellow manager Sarah Lawler) and I were delighted with what we saw on the pitch today, and were delighted with the result, especially bearing in mind the problems we had leading up to match day.
"There were a few nerves before the game. We picked up three injuries at training on Thursday, which we kept quiet and therefore did not really put our starting line up on paper until after warm up today. The game started at a high tempo, and Gloucester put us under a lot of pressure in the first five minutes. However, we held our own and found our feet and discipline. The pitch was not as poor as it normally is, and the girls were able to play some great passing football, opening up a couple of good chances in the first period of the game.
"Our first goal came from some great work on the right hand side from Laura Bray and her delivery was met by Jodi Cornwall, who finished with a nick over the ‘keeper. We settled after that, and both teams put everything into the game. We had to be really focused as we were aware that Gloucester would want revenge after we beat them at their place back in December. You have to admire their team spirit and determination, but I was pleased with our players for their professional display, combatting the opposition well.
"In the second half Gloucester came out the same as they had done in the first, piling on the pressure right the way through the field, leaving us little opportunity. I was so proud of our team today. We asked them for patient build up play, and to take every opportunity they could. We created two clear chances, scored two goals, and deservedly came away with three points.
"Just before we finished them off with our second goal, a well taken Laura Bray strike, to be fair Gloucester had a few fantastic opportunities to pull level, but the agility of our ‘keeper ‘Dodge’ (Rachel Simkin) prevented near certain goals, following two tremendous reactive saves.
"We took a massive step today towards realising our dream of promotion to the Premier League today. We are now five points clear at the top of the league, but our feet are still firmly planted on the ground. We remain focused, taking every game as it comes, determined to realise our goals."
[Report by Ali King, with the comments of Nigel Williams - Yeovil Town Ladies]
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24 January 2012 : 
