Swindon Town Women fell to their first defeat in four games, with a 3-2 loss against AFC Bournemouth at Foundation Park on Sunday afternoon.
It was end-to-end in the opening section of the half, with Town creating some lovely possession-based football and high pressing early in the game.
However, it would be Bournemouth who test the keeper first with an effort from outside the box that would see keeper Emily McGrogan hold comfortably.
The game continued at an even tempo again, with a brilliant free kick from Town’s number 16 Ellie Strippel but her cross could not find a Town player in the box.
However, it was Bournemouth’s turn to come forward with an opening goal from an effort outside the box from Katie James to put the visitors in the lead.
Despite falling a goal behind, Swindon did respond minutes later with lovely build-up play and found Strippel with plenty of space down the middle to score a rocket of a goal on the edge of the box to put Town level on the half-hour mark.
Town saw themselves on the receiving end of an unfortunate circumstance, as minutes later, the ball was deemed to have hit skipper Georgia Clifford’s hand in the penalty area and gave the visitors the chance to restore their lead from the penalty spot.
Bournemouth’s number 4 stepped up and converted the penalty, adding pressure to Town Women for the remainder of the half.
Seconds left to play before the half-time whistle, Gipsy Viveash was deemed to have brought down Bournemouth’s forward in the Town penalty area and gave the visitors yet another penalty that was smashed in the top right-hand corner of the net and gave the Cherries a two-goal advantage at the break.
Half-time: Swindon 1 Bournemouth 3
Town keeper McGrogan was called into action early in the second 45 and was forced to make two crucial saves ten minutes into the second half.
However, Swindon responded with their second of the game, as a deep corner was met by Town captain Clifford and she responded to the chance with a well-taken finish to bring the Reds right back into the game and achieve her third goal in three consecutive games in the 58th minute.
Following this goal, Swindon looked to push on and created good chances throughout the second half to look to bring them closer to getting something from the game.
Town’s number one McGrogan was forced to make an incredible fingertip save with just over 20 minutes to go as Swindon looked to kick on down the other end of the pitch.
Leading into the final 10 minutes of the game, Swindon had to control the game with strong defensive blocks by Captain Clifford and look to threaten down the other end as Town received two corners late in the game and forced Bournemouth’s keeper to make a crucial save.
The closest chance for Town fell into stoppage time when a pass was met by Jess Graham who had plenty of space in a dangerous position but unfortunately saw her effort saved by Bournemouth’s keeper Clark.
This opportunity ended what was a promising second half from Town, as they will now look ahead to their FA Cup fixture, away to Liskeard this Sunday with an opportunity to return to winning ways and an opportunity to advance in the Women's FA Cup.
Swindon Town Women: McGrogan, Viveash, Graham, Randall, Jarvis (Mugford 84), Colston, Diaz-Butcher (Evans 67), Strippel, Purnell (Haynes 21), Beck-Esson, Clifford (C)
Goals: Strippel 32, Clifford 58
AFC Bournemouth: Clark (Smith 20), Bleazard, Buckingham (Gladwell 63), Cooper (Gilroy 69), Hillier (Elkins 87), James, Jones, Kosinka, McGuinness, Treweek, Venditto
