Bristol Ladies Union 1st v Abbeymead Rovers Ladies 1st, 29th March 2026.
It was the third encounter with Abbeymead this season, and we’re used to the games being competitive and the score-lines being tight. This time we were on our own ground, which should have given us a bit of home advantage, but we had no subs on the bench and one player who’d been battling a cold all week. The opening minutes were a bit cagey, but we soon got into the swing of things. With the wind behind us there was a bit of help getting the ball forward, although sometimes a lighter touch was needed because with the short cut grass the ball would zip off and wind up running out of play a little frequently.
BLU had the strongest play during the first half, keeping Abbeymead in their own end of the field for the majority of time, but we just couldn’t manage to get that all important goal. So at the half-time break it was deadlocked at 0-0. Before the restart it was touch-and-go as to whether Izzy would be able to continue. The week of illness was really catching up with her, and nobody would have blamed her for throwing in the towel, but she decided to stick it out.
We made a bit of an adjustment to the shape for the second half and headed back out into the cold in search for that elusive goal. The wind was no longer our friend, and Abbeymead began to dominate play. Now and again we’d manage to break out of our end of the pitch, but possession kept switching back to the reds and we’d be forced back into our 18yd box. Abbeymead won a string of corners, and we managed to defend a lot of time, the most notable of which saw the ball flying across the face of the goal and kept out by a last-ditch header from Daisy. One of our best chances of the second half came in the form of a blistering run by Izzy down the right hand side of the pitch, outfoxing several defenders to get a cross into the box, but once again we just couldn’t quite get the finish. Unfortunately it wasn’t long after, during another run of corners that Abbeymead managed to get one through with about 15 minutes remaining on the clock. Time to respond was running out, as were energy levels. Izzy’s illness finally got the better of her and she had to come off, barely able to breathe without coughing.
For the final 10 minutes we were down to 10 players, and we hung on well to shut down any more goal scoring opportunities from Abbeymead, but we didn’t have the legs left to get ourselves an equaliser. So it was a 1-0 defeat this time, but we’ll look forward to maintaining the friendly rivalry next season.
Magic Moment: Daisy for her header save right on the goal line. Player of the Match: Izzy Bowker, who played some excellent football while struggling with the sort of illness that would see most people confined to the bed all day!
