Despite the evident rivalry between Exeter and Bristol, Exeter women’s 1sts managed to hold their nerve this Wednesday and secure a vital 1-0 win against a belligerent Bristol side.
With their position at the top of the league at stake, Exeter were more than determined to continue with their recent fantastic form and within the first 20 minutes of the match it was clear that they were very much in control, maintaining possession and consistently pressurising the Bristol defence.
Predominantly due to the exceptionally strong Bristol defensive line, Exeter were denied multiple goal scoring opportunities in the early stages, with a promising ball across the D combined with some great stick skills from Kathryn Lane stopped in its tracks by Bristol 21 minutes in. The one real goal scoring opportunity for Bristol came in the late stages of the first half but with a fantastic save from goalkeeper Lottie Winnett they were denied the lead.
The 0-0 score at half time did not reflect Exeter’s utter domination of possession throughout, and the disappointment at the lack of goals was clear in the faces of the players as the half time whistle went. Regardless of the frustrating score line, the 1sts picked themselves up and quickly achieved the deserved 1-0 lead, with a fantastic ball into the D from Nat Capel picked up by Hannah Griffiths and slotted into the bottom right corner.
This goal gave Exeter a much needed boost, with constant pressure around the attacking D, almost resulting in another goal when a brilliant strike by Jen Burry was blocked by the Bristol keeper. Yet another goal scoring opportunity for Exeter was subsequently denied due to a seeming miscommunication as the ball was floated in across the goal face and narrowly missed by two of their players.
The Bristol defence seemed to be finally breaking, and after multiple altercations in Exeter’s attacking D, their penultimate shot of the game from Jess Denniff was hit just wide of the left post after a pressurised one-on-one with the opposition keeper.
This seemed to be somewhat of a wakeup call for Bristol, as the possession changed and after a brilliant run down the wing by their left midfield, a stick tackle in the D resulted in a short corner to Bristol. The strength of Exeter’s back four meant that the short corner resulted in no goal.
The last shot of the game came thanks to a fantastic run down the wing from player of the match Hannah Griffiths, resulting in a diving save from the Bristol keeper. The intensity of the fast pace game certainly took no energy out of the delighted celebration as the final whistle blew.
The win was a fantastic result yet the 1-0 score line does not reflect the fact that Exeter maintained the majority of the possession and controlled the game, which is exactly what Captain Annabel Driver felt after the match, stating that: ‘we dominated the entire game and our lead should have been more than the one goal’. Having said this, as Annabel admitted, it was ‘a strong performance from the whole team to secure this crucial win’.
After that intense clash, Exeter are for the time being safe in the knowledge that they have maintained the position at the top of the league after an excellent performance from the entire team.
Scarlett Freeman-Bassett, Sports Team
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