Goalfest as the Ladies Open Season with a Win

Cardea got of to a shaky start after going 1-0 down early on from a set piece. The Cardea defence failed to deal with a Haverhill corner which was eventually bundled past Carlie Rudd in goal.

It didn't take long for Cardea to bounce back though. Goalkeeper Rudd launched her goal kick long and straight down the middle of the pitch and caught the Haverhill defence out. Courtney Coles, having been told to gamble on it, did exactly that and broke through to slot hers and Cardea's first goal of the afternoon and season.

Coles was at it again in the 10th minute scoring her 2nd of the game, the ball bounced up and Courtney hit a volley over the top of the Haverhill keeper from distance.

Haverhill got back into the game with a long ball up field which Cardea failed to clear. The confusion allowed Haverhill's striker to break through and smash past Carlie for 2-2.

The game again swung in Cardea's favour though with a goal from Jade Ramm on the 18th minute, who delivered a cross/shot in from the left wing in to the far right top corner to make it 3-2.

A goal from Anna Kanga, another player to score her first goal for the club, to make it 4-2 was followed by Coles completing her hat-trick and making it 5-2.

It took a whole 17 minutes for the next goal of the game at which point Haverhill made it 5-3 just before the break!

HT: Cardea Ladies 5-3 Haverhill Rovers Development

At half-time a change was made to the Cardea lineup with Steph Wagstaff coming on for Naomi Hall.

The 2nd half started brightly for Cardea with 2 more quick goals. Kanga managed to get in behind her full-back to slot home for 6-3 and shortly after, Jessica O'Sullivan found space on the edge of the area and finished well to open her account for the season and score Cardeas 7th of the game.

Head coach Dan Gibbs decided to give Coles a break and brought on Chloe Andrew up top.

By now Cardea were well in control of the game with some Haverhill players turned to personal battles instead. This lead to Haverhills 4th goal! Haverhills right back, having spent enough time in Jade Ramms back pocket decided to pop out and see what was going on, she floated a cross in over Carlie Rudd to make the score 7-4! The defender putting her finger to her lips as a way of “silencing” Ramm was enough to see the Haverhill player pocketed again.

One minute later Cardea again added to their lead. Captain Laura Rudd scoring her first goal of the season. The skipper had apparently had extra shooting practice during the week and it paid off eventually when she remembered it was the goal she was supposed to hit and not the park.

Haverhill made it 8-5 on the 81st minute before Coles scored her 4th of the game. Coles was given a free run through the heart of the Haverhill back line and she made no mistake in slotting home.

FT: Cardea Ladies 9-5 Haverhill Rovers Development

After the game Head Coach Daniel Gibbs said “To have scored 9 goals and have them shared out between different players shows we are ok going forward! Disappointed with the goals we conceded and our defending as a team must improve! From front to back It's everyone's responsibility to get that ball back and not let the opposition through! We got the 3 points we wanted and had some great individual proformances out there today, so I'm pleased!

Player of the match went to Courtney Coles who was also voted on to the Squeeze East's team of the day!