Aylesbury United Ladies completed their pre-season with a hard fought game against Chinnor. With many of the squad unavailable due to holidays or other summer commitments it was a bit of a makeshift team with two players playing their first game for the club.
It was a bright start by Aylesbury when a corner caused problems for the Chinnor defence with the ball running along the goal line but no one managed to put the ball in the net. However, it was the home side that took the lead as their left winger outpaced the Aylesbury defence and shot from the left, bending it into the goal giving Tiggs Turner (a slightly reluctant keeper) no chance.
Tara Woodward once again was showing the skill and pace that is going to be difficult for any team to control this year. She managed to create many chances and had several shots one of which hit the crossbar and another was saved well by the keeper.
The first half saw Chinnor making good use of the slope and Aylesbury were struggling to cope with the many long balls allowing far too many to bounce. One of these led to a corner which was not dealt with and, unfortunately, was played into her own net by Laura Warmbier. The third goal was also an own goal as a cross lead to hesitation in the defence and Alice Wright could only managed to turn it into her own net. The fourth was soon to follow as another long ball was knocked on for the Chinnor forward to shoot past the keeper.
The deficit was reduced just before half time with Shannon MacLeod playing a lovely ball through to Tara Woodward who ran half the pitch before knocking it past the keeper.
United dominated the second half but it was not to be their day. Although making many chances with several shots by Woodward and a couple from Jen Lambie they could not get past the Chinnor first choice keeper or their reserve when they had to make a change due to injury. Towards the end of the game another long ball was not dealt with and the Oxfordshire side made it 5-1.
On a very hot day the Aylesbury United team never gave up and kept running. The real work starts next week with the first game of the season.
