After a good start to the season the girls were disappointed with another defeat to high flying Ashdown Rovers.

The game couldn't have started any worse with the girls conceeding an own goal in the first minute.  It did not take Ashdown long to further their lead by scoring another 4 goals within the next 25 minutes.

Poole reshuffled their formation and managed to hold out until half time.  5-0.

A half time team talk spirited the girls, more man marking was applied and a bit more fight.  The girls managed to break through the Ashdown defence only to miss chances or see them saved by the very good Ashdown keeper.

Unfortunately despite playing much better the opposition were too strong for the girls and 2 more goals were conceeded.

Final score Ashdown 7-0 Poole

After last weeks great effort, Poole were brought back down to earth with a 2-2 draw at bottom of the table Donhead. 

The game started off well with the girls keeping Donhead in their own half and managing a couple of shots on target.  It only took 13 minutes for Michelle to latch onto Sonja’s through ball and slide it past the keeper, 1-0 Poole.
From the centre, Poole kept up the pressure and only 2 minutes later a superb shot from Lisa crashed into the top corner.  2-0 Poole. Donhead managed a couple of shots on target but Poole contained any threat well.

The second half started badly.  From Poole’s centre, Donhead closed quickly gaining possession and running through the girls’ defence.  A shot that beat the goalie made the score 2-1.

Poole fought back with more attacking play and within 5 minutes Michelle broke through again.  As she attempted to lob the keeper the ball came back off the bar with Donhead managing to scramble it away. After this incident Donhead stepped up a gear and played more positively.  On the 20 minute mark their speedy forwards ran through again to level the scores.

What a great match, this must have been the best performance from the Ladies yet and having all the play they really should have won. To go up against a team that put 10 past them at the beginning of the season and literally outplay them was excellent.

Corfe Hills early two goals were unfortunate, but once Poole’s defence realised the threat of Shelley Towers and closed her down earlier, the game became more even.   After some great passing by Poole, Sonja Smith scored Poole’s first goal making them more confident.  They realised it was a game they could win and looked forward to the second half despite going into the break 1 – 4 down.

As the score indicates, the second half was all Poole Town and it was a serious of missed chances until, with 6 minutes to go,  Michelle Gale was through on one of her terrific runs and made sure the ball found the back of the net, taking the score to 2 – 4. But despite the score staying at 2 – 4, Poole Town never gave up and with all the girls playing some of their best football this season, they came off the pitch knowing that the game had been within their grasp.

If they can keep up this kind of performance for the rest of the season, they should stay in the top half of the league.

Not a lot of good to be said about this match on the part of Poole Town, although to be fair, Weymouth played well and their keeper was excellent, managing to grab everything that went remotely near her area.

At the break we went in 5 goals down after Weymouth’s No.9 netted 4 of these.  It took some time for our girls to realise what a threat she was and close her down quicker. 

In the second half, Sonja Smith managed a shot that just skimmed the bar and that was to be the story of our whole game.    Rachel Bodger, in goal due to the absence of our regular keeper, played well despite the scoreline, and it was disappointing for her when she made a great save only for the rebound to be belted into the back of the net.    Weymouth managed 3 goals in the second half, so a little better for Poole Town, but all in all a very disappointing game for us.

Some of you may know that Sylvia and Keith Cook are moving out of the area to Exeter and will no longer be a part of the Ladies management team after next week’s game.  They will be sorry to go but hope that all you supporters out there will give the Ladies the encouragement that they deserve and come along to some of the home games.

Our second home game and the Ladies record another good win, making it three in a row. 

Ten minutes into the game, Michelle Gale went on a run and was brought down in the area and Lisa Dootson converted the penalty starting off the score with number one.   Shortly after this, however, Donhead broke and almost leveled the game with a shot across the goal and then, 15 minutes into the game, they shot again only to hit the barrier at the side of the goal. But, apart from a few breaks, the game was played mostly in Donhead’s half and Rachel Bodger in the Poole goal had only one great save to make just before the break.   Before this, however, after a cross from Sonja Smith, Leanne Hoskins netted her first goal after 20 minutes followed by another through the keeper’s legs 10 minutes later.   Just before the break, Sonja Smith joined in the scoring with a great goal taking the score to 4 – 0 at half time.

In the second half, the game remained very much in the hands of Poole Town with Rachel Bodger (replaced in goal by Trish Elseaud) starting off the scoring with a belter from the right.  Leanne Hoskins scored another three goals and Lisa Dootson scored her second after 70 minutes.   Shortly before the end, we really thought Leanne had scored again putting us in double figures, but it just skimmed the bar and landed behind.

All in all, a good performance from the Ladies, putting us in a good position to face Weymouth and Ashdown over the next two Sundays.

After three weeks without a game, (Wimborne Ladies called off the game due for Sunday 23 September), Poole Ladies arrived at Warminster in atrocious conditions.  After some deliberations Warminster and the referee decided that the game could go ahead, to Poole's relief after travelling all that way. 

The weather was always going to create difficult playing conditions and despite Warminster only having nine players, they certainly gave Poole a few problems.   However, after 7 minutes, Michelle broke to the right and crossed the ball in front of the goal line for Sonja to place it nicely in the back of the net. From then on, the first half was fairly uneventful, with the main battle being with the wind and rain.

In the second half things remained very much the same but Poole's game started to pick up in the middle and it seemed only a matter of time before the keeper spilled the ball from Michelle’s shot only to put it back to Michelle who crossed it over to Karen to put it nicely into the back of the net for goal number two after 75 minutes playing.   From then on there were several near misses from Poole but the girls were pleased to hear the final whistle, being very wet and very tired.

Poole are pleased to welcome Oxana Savenchuk into the team, a great little player from Germany, and also we hope to have two Norwegian girls playing, Monica Gundersen and Thora Dystebakken as soon as their F.A. clearance comes through.     We will be a truly international team!

A much better performance this week from the girls who really came good for their first match at Tatnam.   Not being used to playing on such a big pitch, the girls really managed the game well and as time went on it was obvious that the pitch size really suited their game.

Despite an early first goal from Queen Bees after 10 minutes, Poole managed to pull this back 5 minutes later by a Sonja Smith goal, her third in two games.  But it was to be a game of missed chances and it was to take Poole almost to half time before Lisa Dootson managed to take the ball in and roll it neatly across the goal line, scoring Poole’s second. 

Poole again came out fighting in the second half, putting a shot wide after 3 minutes but scoring their third after 5 minutes with Michelle Gale almost walking it into the goal.   The game continued with Poole in command for the majority of the half although Queen Bees No.10, gave the defence a hard time and came close a couple of times to equalising the score.  More missed shots from Rachel Bodger, Sonja Smith, Michelle Gale and Trish Elseaud showed what the score should really have read, but all in all, Poole showed much more composure and played an excellent game for their debut at Tatnam. 

Thank you to the supporters that turned up to give the girls some encouragement and also to our Sponsor who we hoped enjoyed the game.

Not a good start for the Poole Town Ladies who started the game very hesitantly, the lack of pre-season friendlies and full attendance at training sessions no doubt taking their toll.

Corfe Hills looked confident from the start and proved to be the more composed side, scoring their first goal after only 6 minutes.   For Poole, the less said about the first half, the better, going into the break at 6 – 0 down.

The second half showed promise - whatever was said at half-time obviously hit home. Despite Corfe Hills scoring another two goals first, one being an own goal by Poole’s keeper, Sonja Smith at last found the back of the net for Poole after 25 minutes, followed closely by another 5 minutes later.    Poole very nearly made another goal 5 minutes from time when a well struck free kick by Lisa Dootson hit the cross bar.