Match Reports 29 Nov 2025
- Peter Latimer
- Dec 5, 2025
- 10 min read
Last league games before Christmas
Fylde 1 0-1 Bowdon 2
Fylde Ladies 1s entered their final match before the Christmas break determined to deliver a strong performance against joint league leaders Bowdon 2s. Despite strong recent form, Fylde made an uncharacteristically slow start, and Bowdon capitalised early to take a 1–0 lead.
The early setback galvanised the home side, who quickly found their rhythm and asserted control over the game. Nicky Kellett was immediately influential, driving at the Bowdon defence and creating continuous pressure with her trademark attacking runs.
Fylde’s defensive unit—Vicky Rukin, Amy Carter, Jasmine Smith, Lucy Partington and Sophia Murray—remained composed throughout, cutting out any Bowdon half-chances and denying the visitors space in and around the D. Their organisation and timely interceptions ensured Bowdon rarely threatened again after the opening goal.
In midfield, Lisa Perry delivered another commanding performance, dictating play with composure while linking the lines effectively. She was well supported by Lucy Wane and Grace McGarvey, who worked tirelessly to maintain control in the middle and keep Fylde on the front foot.
Up front, Olivia Newman-Kirk pressed Bowdon’s back line intelligently, constantly applying pressure and forcing turnovers that allowed Fylde to sustain their attacking momentum.
The chances soon followed. Jessica Wharton forced an excellent save from the Bowdon keeper with a sharp reverse-stick strike, and moments later she narrowly missed the target after being played through by a clever pass from Rebecca Worthington. In defence, Lucy Partington continued to distribute the ball superbly, finding forward runners with accuracy to keep Fylde’s attacks flowing.
Fylde carried their dominance into the second half, with Kellett once again driving dangerously into the D before finding Worthington for a deflection that was denied by another strong save from the Bowdon goalkeeper.
At the opposite end, goalkeeper Katie Barker produced a superb save to prevent Bowdon from doubling their lead, keeping Fylde well within touching distance.
Despite relentless pressure and sustained control for much of the match, the equaliser eluded Fylde, leaving them disappointed not to have taken at least a point from a game they largely dominated.
Nevertheless, the performance showcased Fylde’s quality, organisation and determination—promising signs as they head into the Christmas break. The team will now rest and reset before league action resumes in late January, where they will look to turn strong performances into well-deserved results.
Fylde 2 0-2 Winnington Park 1
On Saturday, Fylde 2s faced Winnington Park 1s in the final game before the Christmas break. With a shortened warm-up and limited defensive options, Fylde were forced into an unfamiliar system, lining up with three at the back. The aim was simple: start stronger than the opposition.
Winnington came out quickly, and Fylde initially struggled to settle into the new shape. Despite a number of excellent saves from Sophie Slawson, the visitors capitalised on their early chances and scored twice in the first half. After that second goal, Fylde began to understand what was required of them, gradually building confidence and creating several opportunities as the half drew to a close.
The half-time message was clear: we’re settled now—keep moving the ball and keep pushing.
Fylde started the second half brightly, piling on pressure, especially down the right-hand side. The team finally found the backboard and it looked like a turning point—only for the goal to be disallowed due to a foot in the build-up. Undeterred, Fylde continued to press and defended well to shut down counterattacks, but the scoreline remained unchanged, ending 2–0 to Winnington Park.
The team now look forward to a well-earned Christmas break and a stronger second half of the season!
Fylde 3 3-3 Lancaster Nomads 1
Saturday’s game was the last game before the Christmas break, with the 3s looking strong at the top of the league, they went out with determination to put up a fight against the adult side.
Fylde started with the ball and worked together right from the get-go, the ball was shifted straight away through the defensive back 4 and into the midfield for Abbie Warburton and Jessica Jennings to dribble effortlessly around the nomads and passing the ball into the D to Megan Hartley-Smith who couldn’t quite get the right contact on her reverse cross. This energetic start set the scene for what was going to be a dramatic and nerve-racking game.
15 minutes in found Jessica Jennings yet again with the ball dribbling through the middle and finding Sophia Melling, connecting up with Issy Gut who uses her rapid speed to outpace the Nomads defender from the 23 yard line all the way down the baseline, firing the ball across the D for a one time shot from Sophia Melling. An absolute textbook goal! 1-0 to Fylde.
Abi Wensley worked tirelessly on the left side, putting in using her skills to knock the ball continuously onto the oppositions feet and creating breaks for more scoring opportunities, all of which put Lancaster under pressure.
5 minutes after Sophia Melling’s opening goal nearly saw her second, she took on the opposing Centre Back and came 1 v 1 with the keeper and getting a powerful shot away, only narrowly missing the target.
Unfortunately a minute later, the nomads took advantage of a pick up on our weak side and flicked the ball on their reverse into the back of the net. 1-1
Disappointed, Fylde set back up and continued to attack heavily, starting pretty much how they started but this time being rewarded with a short corner after the Lancaster keeper cleared the ball onto the foot of her own defender.
This short corner saw Hermione Edwards stepping up for a straight strike. The ball was walloped towards the backboard but unfortunately found a deflection from the defender’s stick.
Emily Finney, had a cracking game, keeping calm on the ball and using her skills to fool the nomads players allowing her to work the ball up the pitch to our forwards.
Going into the second half, the game could have been anyone’s. But both sides went on equally determined to come away with the 3 points. The majority of play was seen in Fylde’s attacking half, our defence worked well to clear any loose balls from the D and passing around the back efficiently.
In the 36th minute, nomads took advantage of them having not set up in-front of the ball quickly and our poor defensive 16 hit out set up. They intercepted the pass and executed a lovely shot which found the back of our net once again. 2-1 nomads.
The 3s kept fighting, shifting the ball from side to side in attempt to tire the opposition in order to find a path through to goal.
However, a Lancaster player found themselves in space in the D and took a reverse stick shot, which was initial saved brilliantly by Emily Byers but unfortunately an unmarked nomads player at back post managed to scrap the ball into the goal. 3-1 nomads.
In true 3s style, they didn’t give up there. They continued to work as a team to create attacking opportunities, various efforts came from Issy Gut, Natalie Smith and Megan Hartley- Smith.
The last 2 minutes of the game was a real show case of this team’s determination and resilience. In the 68th minute Megan Hartley- Smith dribbled the ball and passes it to Abi Wensley who crossed it to Sophia Melling, she skilfully takes the ball down and slots the ball through the keepers pads to make it 3-2.
With the clock ticking down, Fylde grab the ball from the goal and set back up straight away to find their equaliser. 30 seconds later in what feels like an almost carbon copy bit of play. Megan Hartley-Smith picks up the ball, passes it on to Abi Wensley, assisting again, she passed the ball to Sophia Melling, she tactically turned to create space and hits the backboard once again. 3-3.
We could have guessed this goal was coming as Flo Worden carried out her signature celebration (before the goal even happened) dropping to her knees in anticipation!
The 3s brought away 1 point from this match which keeps them still 6 points clear at the top of the league going into the Christmas break which they thoroughly deserve after all their hard work on match days and training this half of the season.
We can’t wait to get back out there in January and strive towards the league title.
Player of the match this week was awarded to Sophia Melling for her hat-trick and saving the day for us getting the 2 goals in the last minute to take make it a draw. All her finishes were executed beautifully and she’s now happy to finish top goal scorer for the club* this half of the season!
*editor’s note: top scorer for the Ladies on 13 goals, but Harry Gordon leads the club on 17 goals for the Men
Fylde 4 1-1 Windermere 1
It was a late push-back under dark, cold, and wet conditions, but spirits were high as Fylde welcomed Eleanor Bullough to her first game for the 4s.
Fylde began on the back foot, with Windermere applying early pressure and taking the lead with a quick goal. This resulted in Fylde playing very defensively and struggling to gain momentum up the pitch as Windermere crowded their players in Fylde’s half. Windermere won a couple of short corners. Despite this, the defensive unit stayed strong and kept the visitors from converting their chances with Evie Dunne displaying superb effort as 1st runner and blocking the strike.
The half time break identified where Fylde had responded with too much emphasis on defending.
Going into the second half the team settled, connected more passes, and began pushing forward with confidence. Camilla Wyles came close with a powerful reverse-hit effort that lifted just above the goal. Fylde also earned a short corner of their own, but the ball unfortunately skipped through Camilla’s legs before a shot could be taken.
Fylde were now more determined, showing far more attacking intent. Izzie Thompson worked the pivot brilliantly, threading balls out wide to open up the pitch and allow drives down the baseline.
The equaliser came from a well-worked team move: a sideline ball from Windermere, intercepted by Isla Carter, then picked up by Sophia Taylor passing to Leah Richmond at the top of the D, who pushed the ball on to Aimee Jennings. Aimee executed a composed roll-out and slipped it past the keeper into the bottom-right corner.
Fylde continued to press, dominating much of the attacking play in the second half and putting Windermere under sustained pressure.
Full-Time: Fylde 1–1 Windermere
A strong performance in challenging conditions and a deserved point for Fylde.
Lytham St Annes 2 1-2 Fylde 5
The Ladies 5s put on a fantastic display this weekend in a fiercely contested game against Lytham St. Annes 2, with both teams showing real strength, determination, and skill from start to finish.
The first half saw end-to-end action, with the defence called into action early on. A standout moment came when Evie Green took a powerful ball straight to the knee but still managed to keep it out of the goal!
Midway through the first half, Jess Grice was shown a green card after a competitive challenge, leaving the Ladies 5s temporarily down to ten players. Despite this the team kept the momentum. Their persistence paid off when Sadie Atkinson produced a superb finish to claim the first goal of the match.
As the game progressed, the ladies 5’s pushed forward again, and it was Birdie Singleton who sealed the second goal giving the team a comfortable and well-deserved lead going into half-time.
The second half continued with the same intensity. Strong defensive work and confident passing kept the pressure on, although there was another card issued late in the game —this time Dawn Perruzza, who received her first ever yellow card in what will certainly be a memorable moment for her!
Then Lytham scored, yet the team held firm and refused to let momentum slip. Also in the back, we had some great defence work from Megan Eccles, saving loads of short corners. Amazing work Meg well done!
The match finished with a well-earned victory for the Ladies 5s 2-1, who showed grit, teamwork, and no shortage of attacking flair. A strong performance from both sides, but ultimately a brilliant and deserved win for the 5s, keeping them in 2nd place in the table.
Preston 6 3-5 Fylde 1
After having too many players at the start of the week, by Saturday Fylde Men 1’s just had 11 players plus coach and emergency player Steve Allday, and fielded their oldest team of the season against Preston’s best of their 6’s & 7’s squads plus anyone they could grab from their clubhouse.
Fylde started with intent with solid passing and moving off the ball, and within 10 minutes a Harry Gordon dribble led to a pass to Tim van Rijn to slot home for the first goal. Then a Simon Holt drive down the back line and pass back to Harry Gordon for his first goal of the game.
Fylde 2-0 up and seemingly cruising, however Preston started to get their game together, and had several dangerous attacks. They won a short corner, where the ball hit a defender’s foot in front of the goal so a penalty stroke was awarded which was duly despatched.
The two goal cushion for Fylde was reinstated when Harry Gordon scored his second with a bit of a solo dribble into the D and finding a spot past the young goalkeeper.
After a few cards, Fylde had to play with 9 against Preston’s 10 for a couple of minutes, either side of half-time, but they altered formation and played more defensively.
Preston were inspired and attacked with more rigour, and were next to score from a short corner, however Harry Gordon scored his hat-trick, his 4th in consecutive games, from another Simon Holt pass.
With Fylde starting to tire, Preston won another short corner which they scored from, and there did seem a brief moment where the momentum could have turned in the home side’s favour.
Fylde kept on battling away across the pitch, and yet again Simon Holt linked up with Harry Gordon to score his 4th, and give a 5-3 lead to the visitors.
They managed to see the game through to the end without conceding any more goals, and even Steve Allday had a few minutes on the pitch when a player was temporarily injured.
A well fought win in the end, and leaves Fylde in joint 2nd place at the halfway point in the league at the Xmas break, although thoughts were already turning towards their cup semi-final against Bolton 1’s next Saturday.
Oh, and finally Harry Gordon was voted the Man of the Match, it’s only taken 4 weeks of scoring hat-tricks and becoming the Club’s top scorer on 17 goals.
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