After the 2hr journey down to Portsmouth and a minor hiccup trying to find the changing rooms, Bristol were preparing for a very cold away day to help the title charge. We arrived partially in style with Stella and Lizzie sporting the new training kits (I’ve heard they are very warm which is needed in this current climate).
After a change of ends to avoid playing into the sun, Bristol start the match on the front foot with initial pressure off the kick off resulting in our throw in. Less than a minute in, play from Bristol results in a good cross from Leila resulting in a corner. From this corner taken by Stella, SJ attacks with menace to bundle it in to making it 1-0 to Bristol (Harry Maguire take notes). She was elated and although not the classiest goal, a great show of how dangerous we can be from set pieces which must come from practice. After taking an early lead 3 minutes in, Bristol settled into the game and became comfortable. Any balls over the top by Portsmouth were handled by the rock solid back four well and on the occasions the passes were overhit, Betty of course was always there to collect.
Continued positive play from Bristol led to Molly running riot on the right and passing it from the wing into Anna and in her usual style, PhD puts it away in the bottom left corner. 2-0. Minutes later, Gloria receives the ball at the edge of the box and as the world seems to slow down she takes it past one Portsmouth defender, then another, then finished it in the bottom left to make it 3-0 after 25 minutes. Bristol were on fire and the Portsmouth supporters had seemed to have lost their voices after our strong start. The play was Bristol, Bristol, Bristol and Molly almost scored the magnificent with an effort (scissor bicycle kick?) following a lovely ball in by Liv. Portsmouth did have the odd moments of pressure and one standout chance was a freekick taken by their centre back, forcing Betty to make a great save, tipping it over the bar. Other than that, Bristol were putting on a dominant display.
The second half kicked off and continued pressure by Bristol coming from a dominant midfield performance results in chance after chance. Then, Anna attempts the extraordinary as she kicks the ball high up into the air and as we all marvel at how high she can kick it, it drops into the net leaving the keeper rooted to the ground. An absolute worldie makes it 4-0 Bristol, leaving Portsmouth with no chance to get back into the game. As Bristol push for more Gloria sprints to the by-line after an pass goes astray sliding to keep the ball in resulting in a cross which was well finished. However, apparently the ball had already crossed the line before Gloria put it across the box which was hard to believe thus ruling out our fifth. But nonetheless, it didn’t matter as Bristol were very much on top and looked to secure yet another victory.
Persistent hard work from all Bristol players showed our desire for more goals, but alas the full time whistle went (to the relief of the Portsmouth players) concluding a solid victory. The win over Portsmouth concludes a magnificent first half to the season with an (almost) perfect league campaign so far. Well played everybody! Final score 4-0 Bristol.
POTM: Anna Williams
Written by: Eve Rhind
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