Swindon Town Women fell to a disappointing 3-2 away defeat to Maidenhead United, following a second-half comeback from the home side on Wednesday evening.
Town’s Holly Beck-Esson opened the scoring with an early finish for Town in the first 45 followed up by Annie Colston to add a goal shortly after.
However, Swindon Town Women will feel frustrated by their second-half showing, as the home side scored in the first two minutes of the last 45 followed by two more goals later in the second half. which sealed the victory for Maidenhead United Women.
It was a bright start for Swindon, with Beck-Esson giving the Robins the lead from a good Taylor MacDonald set piece and finding the bottom corner of the goal to kickstart the game.
Swindon created more opportunities just after the 20-minute mark, and after seeing an Ellie Strippel chance fly just over the crossbar before Annie Colston picked the ball from the edge of the box and slotted the ball calmly to give a two-goal advantage.
Just before the half-time whistle, Captain Georgia Clifford had a great chance to extend their lead, however, Clifford’s bullet header was found sneaking above the crossbar but left Town with a two-goal advantage.
Half-time: Maidenhead United Women 0 Swindon Town Women 2
The second half started the complete opposite to the first 45 as Maidenhead found themselves in a good position inside Emily McGrogan’s box and were, unfortunately, able to pull a goal back early on through Izzy Stockton in the 49th minute.
The game started to slow down but there was an opportunity for Richard Wood’s side to back on track with a well-crafted set piece routine between Helena Diaz-Butcher and Holly Beck-Esson down on the right-hand side but unfortunately, it couldn’t get past Maidenhead’s Rosie Willmott-Joyce and the score remained 2-1 to Swindon.
Just after the hour, Maidenhead unfortunately equalised through a well-worked move of their own seeing Simome O’Brien able to poke home and open the game right up for both sides with just under a third of the game left to play.
Unfortunately, the game went full circle and will leave Swindon frustrated with Maidenhead’s Izzy Stockon scoring her second of the game and completing the turnaround from the Magpies in that second half.
After this disappointing result, Swindon Town Women have time to reflect on the team’s performance on Wednesday night as they are set to face Keynsham Town Ladies on March 21st as they look to respond with all three points next time out.
Maidenhead United Women: Willmott-Joyce, Esprit, Halfacree, Gregory, Thompson, Saunders (King 86), Topping, Carvill (Hockey 76), Stockton (Clarke 89), Cowell (McKeever 82), O’Brien (Norfolk 90+6).
Goals: Stockton 49, 78, O’Brien 63
Swindon Town Women: McGrogan (Hannam 68), Viveash, Graham, Randall, Jarvis (Mugford 75), MacDonald, Colston, Diaz-Butcher, Strippel, Beck-Esson (Vandries 65), Clifford (C)
Goals: Beck-Esson 15, Colston 39
Sub not used: Haines
