AN extremely rusty TNS Ladies team, who haven’t been able to play or train for six weeks, lost 1-0 to a very strong and physical Radcliffe Olympic side at Park Hall on Sunday.
Both strikers Emily Ridge and Abby Francis collected injuries inside the first 10 minutes, which left them playing at half pace through the rest of the game.
Radcliffe had more possession in the first half, but it was TNS who produced the best two chances forcing great saves from the travelling keeper. There was little to choose between the teams after the break, TNS again creating the best chance early on.
Kim Bebbington was forced to retire after a bad ankle injury and was replaced by our only sub Sarah Burke.
A dubious free kick resulted in the only goal after 63 minutes and, although the Ladies tried in vain to create an equalizer, they couldn’t breach a very good Radcliffe defence.
WBA Reserves 3 TNS Reserves 2 (Reserves League Cup 1st Round)
TNS reserves had to travel with only nine players on Sunday, after several members of the squad let them down only hours before kick-off.
Amazingly they were actually leading 1-0 and 2-1 with counter attack goals from Katie Doster and Sophie Nolan, both set-up by Emily Whitfield, before going down to defeat.