Longlevens Ladies four wins from title after victory over Cheltenham Town Development
Longlevens Ladies moved to within four wins of the GCWFL Division Two title with an 8-0 win over Cheltenham Town Ladies Development, on Sunday afternoon.
Olivia Kosylowicz scored four as Rob McGeever’s side produced a superbly clinical first half display to lead 5-0 at the break, before adding three second half strikes to make the scoreline comfortable.
The young Cheltenham side were stunned to be five goals behind at half time, having had plenty of the ball and putting pressure on their hosts backline.
Longlevens, who were starting with 16 year old Sophie Poole in midfield for her first game in adult football, took the lead inside three minutes when Kosylowicz was slipped in my Mel Hoad, rounded Emma Wiggins and tapped home.
Wiggins was unluckily beaten again on 12 minutes, when a ball forward was flicked on by a Cheltenham head, into the path of Hayley Pitt – with the forward’s effort squirming past the Cheltenham keeper.
The third came just before the half an hour mark, with neat play from the hosts resulting in Kosylowicz having an effort blocked by Wiggins – only to tap home the follow up.
Moments later, Wiggins produced a great save to keep out Kosylowicz – who looked set to claim a first half hattrick.
Cheltenham had produced a number of half openings, but found the Longlevens centre half pairing of Lorraine Smith and Ashleigh Lloyd too tough to break down for the most part.
Poppy Sullivan was left feeding off scraps, but her and captain, Liv Plumpton looked the most likely to make something happen for their side.
Two goals in five minutes before the break took the game away from the visitors and gave Levens a five goal cushion at the interval.
First, Hoad’s free kick from the left bounced in the area, before landing in the bottom corner.
Then Hoad set Kosylowicz through on goal again, with the forward producing a lovely scooped finish to clinch her hattrick.
The second half saw Longlevens add a sixth soon after the restart, with Sasha Moyo’s rush of blood to the head seeing her save a goalbound volley from Lorraine Smith.
Hoad stepped up to claim her second of the day, before capping off an impressive performance, with another assist for Kosylowicz just six minutes into the second half.
Longlevens looked to take advantage as Cheltenham began to tire and heads dropped a little – which was understandable as they were 7-0 down after an hour without playing too bad in all honesty.
Wiggins produced more great stops to keep out a curling effort from Hoad and three fantastic chances for Pitt to add more goals.
The final goal of proceedings came when substitute Kelsey Harris’ through ball found Beth Hicks, who tapped home after Wiggins had initially produced another decent block.
Hicks had started the game in goal for Longlevens, who were missing keeper Skye Chamberlain and Captain, Lucy Dannatt on the day. But she took her chance when out on the field.
Wiggins would continue to frustrate Longlevens’ top scorer Pitt, making two saves in the final 10 minutes to keep the scoreline down.
Longlevens now have a three week break from league action, with their County Cup semi final against Mangotsfield United Women Reserves on Sunday and a Gordon Perrett League Cup Quarter Final against Whitchurch on Sunday 24 March.
Rob McGeever’s side will need to win four of their final six league games to clinch the Division Two title, and could do it as early as their trip to Downend Flyers Reserves at the end of April.
For Cheltenham Town Development, they face Abbeymead Rovers on Sunday and will be looking to close the gap to their opponents in a bid to move off the bottom of the table.
Longlevens Ladies: Hicks, Valenzuela, Lloyd, Smith, Ellis, Hoad, Poole, Pitt, Ashby, Coleman, Kosylowicz
Subs: Harris
Cheltenham Town Ladies Development: Wiggins, Mercurio, E Jones, A Jones, Moyo, Shute, Spragg, Sullivan, Plumpton, Burke, Dimond
Subs: Addis, Hewlett
C Martin Roofing Player of the Match – Olivia Kosylowicz & Mel Hoad (Longlevens Ladies)
