Cheltenham Spa Women 1st v Bristol Ladies Union, 20th September 2026
It was a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon as we all took a trip up the M5 to Winchcombe; a venue with really good facilities, but one where we seem to pick up a lot of injuries. The Cheltenham half marathon delayed some so we were late starting the warm-up, but our biggest issue was going to be our lack of substitutes on the team, while Cheltenham had a full squad.
BLU came out of the blocks full of enthusiasm and energy, holding Spa back well. Although comfortable, BLU were a little hemmed in for the first 5 minutes, but then we began to break into the final third as we found our rhythm. Around the 10 minute mark Matilda was knocked down in a strong challenge and landed heavily on her arm… time for the first of the ice packs. While first aid was being applied we were down to 10 payers for 5-10 minutes, but still keeping up a strong performance. Imy was kept busy in goal, but dealing with shots well. We had a big opportunity at 22 minutes, but Izzy’s shot just caught the post and pinged off audibly. A short hydration break gave us a little time to recover a bit of breath, and then we were back into it. Spa were the first to score with a well worked goal, but BLU responded 2 minutes later with an equaliser courtesy of Jas. A couple of minutes later Liv almost beat the keeper with an attempt within the 18 yard box, and the biggest moment of the first half was Imy’s perfectly timed, and very brave stop just inside the area at the feet of an attacker.
At half time it was ice packs being handed around instead of orange slices, and various scuffs and scrapes cleaned and covered. Fatigue was obviously an issue, but there was a confidence that we’d so far held Spa to 1:1 despite the lack of subs.
The second half was tougher. BLU took a while to get the motor running back up to full speed, and Spa took advantage, scoring 2 goals in quick succession at 9 and 11 minutes. BLU fought back and had a few opportunities in front of the goal, but couldn’t quite thread the ball through. The game was still end-to-end, but while Spa made frequent substitutions to manage energy levels, we had no such options. With full credit to the team, BLU kept on fighting despite Spa’s momentum, but by the end of the game we’d conceded 2 more goals, and it just wasn’t to be our day.
So the end result was Cheltenham Spa: 5 – BLU: 1, and while it’s not what we would have wanted, the team can be really proud of the performance they put in. We had a double-Imy for Player of the Match and Magic Moment. PoTM went to Imy WS for her skill linking up so much play through the midfield, and the Magic Moment was Imy G’s huge moment making that stop at the end of the 1st half.
