THERE were limited league games in last weekend’s women’s football programme due to West Riding County Cup commitments and the weather, with only two games taking place in the West Riding County Fourth Division.
Bradford United continued their good run of form with a 9–1 win against basement side Wakefield Owls. On target were Henna Shaheen (3), Mona Jamil (2), Madhia Ishaq (2), Bouthayna Fakraoui and Amina Ali, with Megan Bowery scoring a consolation goal for the Owls late-on.
Skipton Town Development welcomed last weekend’s opponents Lower Hopton Development to Sandylands. Another close match saw the sides tied at 1–1 at the break, however this time the thriller in the rain saw a last-minute winner for the Mighty Whites. Skipton’s scorers in the 3–2 last-gasp victory were Sophie Fagan-Gaines, Olivia Clayburn and Raegan Percival, with the player of the match award given to Katy Athersmith.
Two of our local sides were involved in the Round-of-32 of the County Cup.
Ilkley Town, a good, young side doing very well in County First, took on a team from the division above, Yorkshire Amateur, who are currently second in the County Premier.
Ammers took a two-goal lead. Millie Washington sent a great drive down the left hand side and low delivery for an Eva Curran finish to pull a goal back for Ilkley, but Ammers struck again as the left winger found space and placed the ball into the bottom corner, to see Baht’atters losing 3–1 at half-time. The second half saw four more goals for Ammers, as they went through 7–1.
Ilkley’s manager Claire Armstrong remarked that the County Cup is a great opportunity to meet higher level opposition: “The women conducted themselves admirably against a very talented and experienced side and as always we’ll use the experience to learn, grow and improve.”
Meanwhile, Bradford (Park Avenue) were hoping to progress away at Harrogate Railway, after recent disappointing results in other competitions.
Bradford came out determined to take first blood from the game and it was no surprise when they went ahead from a corner. But Railway soon got an equaliser and went ahead just before the break.
Avenue came out hard in the second half, creating chances, but five minutes into the half Railway had another goal chalked up. Bradford did try to keep in the game with a few attempts on goal, but several injuries reduced the number of players actually on the field as the half progressed. Railway wrapped up the scoring with an amazing volley into the far corner of the goal to go through 4–1.
Earlier this month, several of our girls’ sides were also involved in the West Riding County FA Junior Girls Competitions. There were no teams representing Bradford City this season, and most of our local teams have been eliminated. However one local side will continue in the Junior Trophy. Eldwick Junior Lionesses’ u13 side were tied at 3–3 at half-time with Ripon City Panthers’ u14s, however they went on to win 7–5 with goals from Anniyah Zaman, Lily Webb and a fabulous five from Eva Thompson.
Local footballer Rebecca Rayner celebrated her 100th game in senior football over at Bramhall Lane, as she now plays for Championship side Sheffield United, currently managed by Neil Redfearn.
Back in the 2005–06 season, a young Rebecca Rayner was playing for Bradford (Park Avenue) in an u7 side. The following season, Neil Redfearn was also involved with Bradford (Park Avenue) men’s team, the 2006–07 season saw his last games as a player.
Rebecca later played against Bradford (Park Avenue) Ladies for Battyeford Belles, where team-mate Leanne Webster commented that she was good enough to play for England. A few years later she’d played a few games for England u19s and signed for Doncaster Belles when Neil joined as Belles’ manager — with some success, taking them to the WSL2 championship in 2017–18. Rebecca moved on to Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, before earlier this year returning to the Blades for a third time. Unfortunately Sunday’s game saw Sheffield United fall to a 2–0 defeat to London City in front of a league record crowd of 11,137.
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