Birmingham City
Blues Trust
Blues 4 All
Blues made it five wins in five but had to earn it against a Durham side who were coming from a tremendous victory over Sheffield United. After last weekend they were three points behind us under the guidance from Coach Claire Ditchburn. Goals from Jade Pennock, Ivanna Fuso and Remi Allen got Blues over the line Durham’s goal came from a formally person Eleanor Ryan-Doyle made it two in two. On the downside the standard of Refereeing in the game needs to be better the penalty for Durham was a good clean tackle everybody in the stand said it wasn’t a penalty, but the referee Melissa Burgin didn’t think so. In the first half when Fuso was brought down in the box in the 38th minute a certain penalty but Melissa Burgin waved it away . Their needs to be some common sense to get Referees full time the FA and the associations need to make this happen. There are no excuses now the Womens game is growing like never before, make the Ref’s full time if not you will lose a generation of officials.
FIRST HALF
The first chance of the game came for Blues when Ivanna Fuso found Martha Harris, but her effort went high and wide .
In the 8th minute Blues thought their have taken the lead when Gemma Lawley could have made it in two in two, but her header was brilliantly turned away from former Blues player Eleanor Ryan-Doyle .
In the 12th minute Blues found the deadlock when Lily Agg played it across to Fuso who played it across for Jade Pennock to tap it home to get her first goal of the season .
In the 17th minute the captain Jade Moore had a shot that was comfortably saved from Saunders.
30 minutes in and Blues doubled the lead with a goal of real quality. Jade Moore and Libby Smith combined brilliantly leading to a shot from Smith which was saved by Tatiana Saunders but it was blasted home by Ivanna Fuso.
Three minutes later the visitors got a goal back from a familiar face. It started off when Poppy Pritchard weaved into the box and found the former Blues player Eleanor Ryan-Doyle who turned it home to make it 2-1.
In the 38th minute a huge moment when Ivanna Fuso was brought down in the Durham box, but it was waved away by the referee.
HALF TIME BLUES 2-1 DURHAM
SECOND HALF
The first chance of the second half was for Blues when Libby Smith missed her shot and it fell to Pennock but her shot was blocked in the 50th minute.
In the 65th minute Blues got their two-goal lead back when the outstanding Martha Harris crossed the ball onto the head of diving Remi Allen to nod it home to make it 3-1.
Then in the 74th minute more controversy when Gemma Lawley made a brilliant challenge on Amy Andrews, but the referee pointed to the spot. Noonan stood up to take the penalty but it was easily saved by Lucy Thomas.
The last chance of the game came for Blues with some brilliant individual skill from Choe Yu-Ri only for her low shot to hit the post in the 91st minute.
Then a further 12 minutes of additional time before the final whistle.
FULL TIME BLUES 3-1 DURHAM
MY THOUGHTS ON THE GAME
Five wins in a row, an unbeaten month scoring lots. Yes that pleases me but what I like is this group is really showing their metal and being resilient. Sometimes last season, we didn’t do that, like at London City Lionesses and the home game against Sunderland. This season with the likes of Remi Allen, Lily Agg & Jade Moore we have got that toughness and know how to grind out results.
Huge shout out to Super Jade Pennock getting her first goal of the season, it’s been really frustrating for the striker this season, but her work rate is still there and her record in this league is ridiculous, it was a matter of time before she got back on the score sheet.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
It’s not a goal scorer, watching her play today shows me how much we missed her when she was injured, her performance today was simply incredible my player of the match is Martha Harris. She was amazing today defending and going forward and fully deserves it.
UP NEXT
We are back in the league cup on Wednesday night with an away trip to Charlton .
STEPHEN GILL
#KRO