Women’s football: Charlton Athletic lose at home to Sunderland
BY SAMUEL DRAPER
Grace McCatty’s first-half goal was enough for Sunderland to grind out a hard-fought 1-0 win at Charlton Athletic in the FA Women’s Championship.
McCatty found the net for the visitors just after the half-hour mark following a goalmouth scramble, giving the newly-promoted side their third win of the season.
Charlton continued to press in an effort to get back into the game but without success.
The 2pm kick-off was delayed by 30 minutes as Charlton staff tried to remove excess water from the Oakwood pitch after a heavy morning downpour.
Both sides had chances in the opening 15 minutes, with Abbey Joice shooting wide for Sunderland and Emma Follis then curling a shot over for the Addicks.
Midway through the first half, Charlton’s Lois Roche floated a corner along the goal line, forcing Sunderland’s keeper Allison Cowling to punch the ball away from the danger area.
The goal came just after the half-hour mark. Neve Herron’s shot was blocked, and in the resulting chaos, McCatty made no mistake from close range to give the Black Cats the lead.
The hosts started the second half brightest, with Anna Filbey’s low free-kick 10 minutes after the restart forcing Cowling into another good save.
Charlton came close again with 20 minutes to play. Follis’ cross was cleared to Beth Roe, who shot just wide as the hosts looked for a leveller.
Sunderland could have added a second late on, but Maria Farrugia was unable to break free of the defender to take a shot when in on goal. The result ends Charlton’s run of home wins at the start of this season at three.
Charlton midfielder Filbey said: “It’s a frustrating one for us all. First half, we weren’t moving it quick enough. We came out second half, I think we did that better.
“But we just didn’t create anything in the final third when we got the ball there. We need to have a look at ourselves. We need to not give free-kicks in and around our box.
“Teams like that thrive off of set-pieces, and we’ve gone and given them a few and put pressure on ourselves. We need to look at that.
“We were taking too many touches, dilly-dallying at the back. We just needed to move the ball, be more patient, and then go forward. It just wasn’t our day today.
“We recover and we go again. We have a clean slate. We’ll work hard as ever, look at ourselves, reflect that game, and go again.
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PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD
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