A comfortable win as possible kept Chatham Town Women on course for a top three finish in the Women’s National League as on Mother’s Day at the Bauvill, two mums shone amongst the increasingly gloomy conditions as they comfortably saw off Actonians three-nil in front of a joyous crowd.
The Chats were ahead early on after Ciara Hynes free kick flew into the top corner of the net from just in front of the Chats bench – a magnificent effort that even had boss Keith Boanas smiling, not that the boss had much else to smile about in the opening half as both sides toiled in the difficult conditions.
That said after the break, it was only ever a question of how many the Chats would get as first skipper Ellie Jeffkins magnificently drilled home a second to celebrate her first Mother’s Day as a mum and the Lottie Sharp was on hand to complete the scoring with a fair bit to spare.
Hynes’s stunner came in the opening minutes and gave the Chats the ideal start. The kick was only a couple of yards in from the touch line, yet the midfield dynamo wrapped her foot round the ball magnificently and bent the kick on the swirling wind high beyond the flailing Elisa Dogor and into the Actonians net.
The first half mainly saw the Chats in possession whilst the visitors struggled to come to terms with conditions, and indeed the only semblance of a chance the visitors had was from a poor back pass, but Vivien Rustieri wasn’t quick enough to take advantage as keeper Simone Eligon raced from her line.
On the stroke of half time, Hynes nearly repeated the free kick trick but this time the effort skimmed off the roof of the net, but it was to set the tone for the second half as the Chats dominated completely.
Jess King was denied by the bar with a blistering free kick; Jas Auguste (who was outstanding throughout) and Sharp combined brilliantly down the left and from Sharp’s lovely pull back, Karesha Iton was denied at the foot of the right post. Before Hynes’s third effort of the game crashed inches too high.
The second goal eventually arrived and was skipper Jeffkins first goal in ten games, but her tenth goal of the season was well worth waiting for as Auguste combined with Charlotte O’Shea and as the ball fell into her path, the Skipper’s rocket flew past Dogor like a tracer bullet sparking great scenes of celebration, even if the grounds PA gave it to a different players – it was definitely Jeffkins goal and definitely another for the Jeffkins scrap book of stunning goals this season!
Ten minutes later, Sharp was the sharpest in the box as the visitors struggled with a corner and the Chats winger smashed the ball home past a despairing Dogor. Iton will have been disappointed not to have made it four late on but by then the job and the points had been well won and the way that Actonians only shot on goal in the whole goal almost apologetically bounced into Eligon’s arms in stoppage time.
This was the first of two games in hand the Chats have in hand over the London Bess and these three points have taken Boanas’s girls to within three points of the Bess with still a game in hand – next up for the Chats, lowly Cambridge United visit the Bauvill on Sunday and if the game and a half that the two sides have already played this season – the first abandoned after a horrific injury, the second saw Chats keeper Abby Baravik controversially sent off inside the opening five minutes – the game on Sunday at 2.30 could be an interesting “contest”!
CHATHAM TOWN WOMEN – Eligon, Auguste, (Thompson), Hynes, Perkins, Jeffkins, Sharp (Madison Woodgate), O’Shea, Amelia Woodgate (Iton), Jones, Dunn (Coombs), King (Charles)
Sub – Baravik
ACTONIANS WOMEN – Dogor, Colley, Clement, Bramwell, Walpole, Karakus (Bishop), Brereton (Chaudhry), Kargbo, Ruetieri (Fawcett), Abul-Chiere, Williamson
REFEREE – Mr. Lane