CUWFC 3-8 AFC Wimbledon WFC: Match Report

United's Womens team were back in action at the Abbey at the weekend, Adam Tarasewicz (@TarasewiczAdam) was there to report for us.

Whilst not quite the near 5,000 in attendance for a 1-1 draw at Carrow Road a couple of weeks ago, United were backed by great home support in their first game at the Abbey this season. They came into this unbeaten in the first four games and looking to follow up a great comeback win over Actonians last week.

Darren Marjoram kept much of his side the same. Webb returned, ever present in goal; Jess Morley joined Rouse, Seymour, and Brooke Cheal-Ferris in defence; Bella Simmons joined Edgar, Steele, Wood, and Fox in midfield; Alisha Stojko-Down took over the lone striker role.

Wimbledon are league favourites, having just missed out to Hashtag United last season. They looked every bit as strong as that expectation would suggest for the opening 15 minutes and, despite their attractive passing style, scored early from a direct ball over the top of United’s defence. Don’s striker Ashlee Hincks finished well and went on to cause United’s defence endless problems as they never got to grips with her pace, footwork, or tendency to take a first time shot.

In Seymour and Cheal-Ferris, Cambridge have a new-look fullback duo, whose passing combinations with the central midfielders added threat down both wings a week ago. Wimbledon pinned them back though and United resorted to quick balls forward which they struggled to get up and support. Marjoram would later refer to this ‘not sticking to the plan’ in his post-match thoughts.

Yet, United levelled the match a quarter of an hour in; a short corner brought down excellently by Stojko-Down and finished on the turn under the goalkeeper. Cambridge then had their best period of the game. Stojko-Down looked confident at dropping deep to bring others into play, whilst the U’s caused chaos from a corner nearly forcing home a second.

Wimbledon retook the lead though after an uncleared corner fell to their captain whose sliced shot appeared to catch Lauren Webb off balance. Whilst she was unlucky, it was poorly defended by United who allowed an overload on one side of the box with three attackers.

The game took an ugly turn soon after when the referee failed to send off Wimbledon no. 7 Emma Plewa for serious foul play when she tangled with Mayzee Seymour. Whilst hard to tell what happened, she certainly appeared to prevent Seymour from standing up but got away with a yellow card whilst Seymour received treatment.

Promptly, the game was killed off before half time. First, the crowd’s pantomime villain Plewa set up a back post header from Ashleigh Goddard, then Wimbledon got a fourth from the penalty spot. The penalty however took over 10 minutes to be taken as Mayzee Seymour had to be stretchered off with an apparent neck injury.

Stojko-Down did pull one back, rifling a shot into the top corner after picking up on a loose header for 4-2, but it was 5-2 soon after.

United really struggled to deal with a period where tempers flared, clearly, they had been affected by Seymour’s exit and they were 7-2 behind before long in the second half. Understandably, they wanted to avoid sitting back too far with Wimbledon’s quality in attacking areas, but ultimately, their defensive line was frequently caught out and Dons scored a number of their goals from balls over the top.

For the final stages of the game, neither team played their best football, both resorting to long balls as tiredness set in along with frustration on Cambridge’s part. Wimbledon had made it 8 before Ruth Fox pulled another back with a nicely timed finish.

Back to earth with a bump and United’s unbeaten start is over, but Wimbledon are clearly title favourites for a reason. Strong runners in midfield caused chaos and a pair of solid centre backs gave the U’s attackers little to work with; and that’s without mentioning Ashlee Hincks scoring four by herself.

To call the game open would be an understatement, and both sides had chances to score more. Bella Simmons could have had two near identical goals from dangerous cutbacks – instead she scored neither and United were equally lucky to not concede a couple more. Wimbledon always seemed to have one extra attacking player and tactically feel a level above most teams Cambridge have played this season or last.

Still though, the inner happy clapper says that the game could have looked very different if Wimbledon had been reduced to 10 at just 2-1. What’s more, whilst not half as good as against Actonians, United can still take some positives from their attacking play, and another good performance from Alisha Stojko-Down in the absence of Sarah Wiltshire. She is an obvious shout for player of the game, with an honourable mention to Zoe Wood who adds confident technical quality in the middle.

One to forget then, and hopefully the effects on the squad are not long lasting. None more so than on Mayzee Seymour, who Darren Marjoram confirmed they were worried about post-match. As a fanbase we wish her a speedy recovery.