First match after the Christmas break saw the Barnsley Ladies First team come up against 5th place Scunthorpe & Bottesford Ladies FC on a heavy pitch at Oakwell in the warm winter sun.

Scunthorpe started off brightly with a couple of strong breaks down the flanks that were easily snuffed out by the Reds defence. Then after 6 mins Emily Ward managed to nick the ball off the Scunthorpe left wing, she played it to Kathryn Smith, who passed onto Amy Woodruff and then out to Drew Green on the right wing, her cross was met by Amy but her effort was pushed away for the first corner of the match, that came to nothing.

9th minute Kathryn Smith played the ball through to Brittany Sanderson who laid it out to Melissa Cole, her cross was flicked over the out stretched foot of Drew Greene at the back post by the Scunthorpe centre back. Again the resulting corner was dealt with.
Then in the 12th min Kathryn Smith picked out Brittany Sanderson, her back to goal she turned around the defender, dummied her shot with the right foot before passing the ball just inside the LH post with her left. 1-0.

A quick free kick taken just inside the Scunthorpe half gave Danielle Lowe the chance to cross into the box, it was controlled on the turn by Kathryn Smith who hit it into the net inside the RH post, 2-0 15 mins gone.
17th min Laura Shepherd from midfield played the ball to Drew Greene on the right wing whose cross was met by Kathryn Smith rushing into the box, 3-0.

Barnsley were starting to dominate the midfield playing balls into the path of the 3 attackers to put Scunthorpe under waves of pressure. In the 20th min Amy Woodruff played the ball out to Drew Greene, she crossed strongly into Kathryn Smith who managed to get something on it to nudge the ball into the path of Amy Woodruff to finish, 4-0.

23rd min good link up work between Brittany Sanderson and Amy Woodruff released the ball into the path of Kathryn Smith who smashed the ball into the net despite the goal keeper getting her hand to it, 5-0 and a hat trick for Kathryn.
26th min Kathryn Smith played a through ball into Drew Greene, she drove into the box to see her shot towards the near post palmed away for a corner. It was taken short with Danielle Lowe breaking into the box, the goal keeper saved the shot, rebounding off a Barnsley player and out for a goal kick.

Then in the 28th min a lovely passage of play across the full width and length of the pitch. Starting with Bryony Hudson, passing out to Lucy Turner, into Emily Ward on the right then she passed centrally to Laura Shepherd who picked out Brittany Sanderson in the Scunthorpe half. Brittany laid it out to Melissa Cole who was supporting from full back on the left wing, she picked out Amy Woodruff on the edge of the Scunthorpe box, her sight of goal was blocked by the Scunthorpe centre back but she found Drew Greene whose shot was saved.

A Bryony Hudson goal kick on 34 min found Kathryn Smith, she played a lovely weighted through ball into the path of Brittany Sanderson, one on one with the Goal keeper who stood up and managed to smother the shot on the edge of her 6 yard area.
35 min Emily Ward chased down a ricochet to prevent it going out of play, she passed it into Drew Greene, whose cross was met by Kathryn Smith, but her shot this time went just wide of the right hand post.

Then in the 37th min Kathryn Smith and Brittany Sanderson linked up and Brittany drove strongly into the penalty area on the left hand side, she managed to square the ball into Amy Woodruff whose shot was almost saved by the keeper but it dribbled over the line just inside the RH upright, 6-0.

39th minutes gone and Rebecca Wilson played the ball down the left wing to Brittany Sanderson, she picked out Danielle Lowe, who found Amy Woodruff on the edge of the penalty area with her back to goal, she laid it back into Brittany Sanderson whose shot smashed off the cross bar bouncing down just in front of Drew Greene who managed to stretch up and nod it into the open net 7-0.
In the closing minute of the 1st half Amy Woodruff tried to dribble goal wards but was pushed out towards the corner by good defensive work, but there was support coming from Drew Greene, she drove the ball towards the goal line, riding one tackle to pick out a return ball to Amy whose shot was saved by the left hand upright. From the resulting corner taken short by Brittany Sanderson and Danielle Lowe a cross into the box was met by Kathryn Smith but her attempt went out for a goal kick.

HT 7-0

Changes at the start of the 2nd half saw Abby Parkin come on for Emily Ward and Holly Findlay, Rebecca Hale and Darcie Greene come on for the front three of Brittany Sanderson, Amy Woodruff and Drew Greene. After such a dominant 1st half would Scunthorpe continue to concede the midfield to Barnsley.

After just 3 minutes having linked up with Holly Findlay in a promising attack down the right wing Rebecca Hale unfortunately had to leave the field with a reoccurrence of her injury, she was replaced by Amy Woodruff.

56 mins gone and Amy controlled a clearance from Lucy Turner on her chest, she laid the ball off to Kathryn Smith whose through ball found Holly Findlay on the right, she drove into the box and played the ball back to Kathryn in the pocket at the edge of the area, her well struck shot cannoned back off the cross bar into the path this time of Darcie Greene whose first time shot again struck the cross bar over the top and out for a goal kick.

60th minute from a Barnsley short corner between Danielle Lowe and Abby Parkin, there was a cross to Kathryn Smith, her shot bounce away for another corner. This time Abby’s cross into the box was met by a Scunthorpe head and Laura Shepherd from just inside the penalty area found the top right hand corner of the goal, 8-0.

61st min time for midfield changes with Danielle Lowe and Kathryn Smith replaced by Emily Ward and Brittany Sanderson, followed in the 66th min by Drew Greene replacing Laura Shepherd.

69th min following a previous chat by the Referee, the Scunthorpe Captain caught Brittany Sanderson again and received a caution for persistent infringement of the laws of the game. But the resulting Free kick was easily dealt with by the Scunthorpe keeper.
71st min on the clock and Brittany Sanderson broke through the Scunthorpe defence on a mazy run, her shot was partly saved by the keeper who scrambled quickly but unsuccessfully to stop the ball rolling into the goal, 9-0.

76th min Emily Ward passed into Drew Greene who drove passed 2 defenders into the box to play the ball across the box just in front of an outstretched foot of Darcie Greene coming in from the other wing.

78th min substitution with Laura Shepherd returning for Amy Woodruff, Emily Ward was moved out to right wing and Holly Findlay into the centre of attack. They immediately got involved, receiving the ball from Brittany Sanderson, Emily took on her defender and played the ball into Holly who drove into the box only to have the ball smothered at her feet by the Scunthorpe keeper.

79th min gone and Abby Parkin strongly challenged and won the ball just inside the Scunthorpe half, she found Holly Findlay in the right channel and continued her run to receive the ball back and shoot from just inside the box, goal keeper saved. Then as the goal keeper was bouncing the ball preparing for her goal kick, she lost control of it, tried to kick it but made contact with the ground first which caused the ball to just dribble forward, Holly Findlay was first to react and calmly lobbed the ball over the stranded keeper into the open net, 10-0.

83rd min Holly Findlay chased down a cleared ball into the left wing channel, she managed to pass it inside to Darcie Greene, driving into the box her shot was saved by the Goal Keeper.

From the left back position Rebecca Wilson, picked out Drew Greene in midfield, she turned, looked up and played a lovely weighted ball into the right wing channel on to which Emily Ward took it into the box to shoot just wide of the left hand upright.

88th minute saw Melissa Cole linking up with Darcie Greene down the left, but her shot was once again saved. Then from the goal kick Laura Shepherd won the ball in midfield, playing it out to the right from where Emily Ward crossed into Holly Findley, but she miskicked to allow the Scunthorpe Keeper to gather.

Final Whistle 10-0 win to Barnsley with a high level of match dominance that kept the Scunthorpe Goal Keeper busy and the Scunthorpe players chasing the ball for large parts of the match. Good match to find team rhythm before a top of the table clash next weekend against Norton & Stockton Ancients weather permitting.