Cardea Ladies Run Riot Against Cambourne

Following last week's 11-1 victory, Cardea Ladies travelled to face Cambourne United as they were faced with wet and windy conditions in the Women's League Cup.

Today's game was a slow start for both teams, especially compared to last week but as Cardea were starting to get a foot in the game, Cambourne broke away which saw the defence scrambling, although a combination of Maisie Homden and Carlie Rudd saw the early attack promptly dealt with.

Cardea were sloppy in possession throughout the early stages but Anna Langa did manage to rattle the crossbar but the away side didn't have to wait much longer, in the 15th minute the deadlock was broken by Emma Pollard, the striker was sent through on goal by Laura Rudd and made no mistake to score her first of the game and her 5th in 3 games.

10 minutes later it was 2-0 to Cardea, Homden found Rudd who hit a shot from 20 yards out and found the roof of the net, leaving the keeper no chance. Some say it was wind assisted but Rudd claims otherwise.

Two minutes later Courtney Coles was sent through but the new keeper for Cambourne came out and collided with Coles and the ball fell to Pollard who smashed it into an empty net to make it 3-0, this also lead to a stop in play while Coles was taken off to be replaced by Helen Buckingham.

Cardea were showing signs of controlling this game again but still not playing to the best of their ability with Cambourne breaking a few times only to be halted by the Cardea defence.

On the 35th minute it was 4-0. Rudd showed some good footwork after picking the ball up in a wide area, she crossed low into the box for Buckingham to flick goal bound for what everyone watching expected to be her first goal for the club but Langa was lurking to steal the goal on the line, this led to Rudd being outraged that she had lost her assist.

At 45 Minutes, the referee expressed that there were 5 minutes of stoppage time being added due to Coles' earlier injury. With this Cardea were awarded a penalty on the 45th minute as Ella Harness had a shot blocked, only for the rebound to fall into her feet again who sent it goal wards again, only this time it was thwarted by the hand of a Cambourne defender. Harness was given the task of taking the penalty and did so comfortably. This was her first goal for the club and became the Ladies youngest goal scorer at the age of 16.

Cambourne at this point seemed to throw in the towel and from a weak goal kick from the Cambourne Goalkeeper, the ball was controlled by Buckingham who ran through and scored her first goal for the club.

At the end of injury time there was one last chance for Cardea to make it 7, a corner was swung in by Langa which was flicked fancily, according to Pollard which completed her first half hat trick.

HT Cambourne United 0-7 Cardea

The half time team talk from Paul Clarke was all about how Cardea had not played their own style of football and how the football would be better, although it wasn't too stern as the team were praised for still killing the game off.
A change was made, Groom-Smith off and Amanor was on.

Clarke's words must have been taken on board as they were quickly on the scoresheet again in the second half as Pollard won a header from the goal kick, taking on 3 defenders and scoring her 4th and Cardea’s 8th of the game.

Moments later, Cardea were pushing for another goal but the attack ended up in a corner. The resulting corner was taken by Langa with Pollard yet again finishing into the net with a tidy header to make it 9-0.

The Ladies then made it 10 with yet another cracking strike, this time it was a free kick taken by Pollard who hit the ball over the wall and found the bottom right corner, leaving the keeper helpless. This completed a tremendous DOUBLE hat trick, she must have found some shooting boots within the week.

After the hour mark, changes were made which saw Cardea take their foot off the gas, a game which left Carlie Rudd stood freezing in goal as she watched on.

In the 81st minute, Rudd found herself getting another assist after being denied a few times in the first half, her through ball finding Buckingham who slotted the ball home for her second of the day.

The 12th was another fierce strike, this time from Sophia Amanor who was another player scoring her first goal for the club and in some style too, Rudd claiming her 3rd assist of the day.

The scoring was completed in the 92 minute when a Coles free kick was met my Langa to score her second of the game to round off a fantastic 2 weeks.

FT Cambourne United 0-13 Cardea

Player of the Match was awarded to the skipper, Laura Rudd for her battling display in the middle of the park and setting up multiple attacks. Well done Laura.

Although Paul Clarke was happy with the result, it was the players who were unhappy. Despite winning 13-0 they still thought they could have played better football.

Cardea Ladies are back in League action next week as they hope to make it 3 out of 3 away to Brampton Ladies.