Match Reports 6 & 7 Dec 2025
- Peter Latimer
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
A weekend of 3 cups games and 1 rearranged league game, with Cup wins for both the Ladies 4's and the Mixed team.
Fylde 4 2-2 (4-3) Pendle Forest 2
Fylde 4s faced off against League table leaders Pendle Forest 2 in the semi-final of the Lancashire Cup. Having played them only two weeks earlier, we knew it would be a tough game. Pendle brought their experienced players and caught Fylde off guard straight away, scoring in the first couple of minutes.
This definitely made Fylde take notice and the team quickly regrouped. Driving the ball down the wings, Fylde pushed to reach Pendle’s D and were awarded a penalty corner after finding an opposition foot. The ball was received by Olivia Hartley-Smith outside the D and slipped across the goal where Sophia Taylor deflected it in at full stretch.
The game was now level again and Fylde could take a breath. It turns out the breath was a little too long and Pendle fired their second goal into Fylde’s backboard only a couple of minutes later. Emily Finney made moves in the mid field to break through Pendle’s strong defences, providing opportunities for the forwards which unfortunately didn’t result in any more goals for the first half.
The team talk in the break identified once again that the team had stepped back and needed to be courageous and press Pendle harder!
The second half started with a Fylde pushback and the energy levels high. The play was very much end to end and Pendle won a few short corners. These were well defended by Fylde and denied any further chances for Pendle.
Fylde won their own short corner and saw deja-vu when Olivia once again sent an excellent ball across to Sophie Taylor who tipped the ball past the keeper. The crowd went wild!
Both teams upped the ante in an effort to secure a win and this continued until the final whistle. A draw in the cup means penalty flicks!
Our fabulous five stepped up to the challenge as the rest of the team and our supporters could only watch.
Olivia went first but the keeper was quick to react, a great effort to start us off.
Pendle started strong with a powerful shot
Fylde 0 Pendle 1
Sophia went next and aimed hard a foot above the ground and bypassed the keeper
Faye then made an epic save!
Fylde 1 Pendle 1
Zoe had her eye on the prize (“all day, all day”) and had the team jumping in celebration!
Faye made another brilliant save to the delight of the team
Fylde 2 Pendle 1
Evie B stepped up to the plate and had to retake as the keeper came off the line. The keeper was quick to get a foot on it.
Pendle scored
Fylde 2 Pendle 2
Alys completed our set off five and finished off with goal that snuck past the keeper
Pendle also scored their last
Fylde 3 Pendle 3
After 10 flicks we were all square so went to sudden death, no pressure!
Pendle went first and Faye brought down the house with another fabulous save.
Olivia lined up, more determined than ever and landed the winning goal!
Fylde 4 Pendle 3
It was a tough game and even tougher with the flicks but a good experience all round.
Huge thank you to everyone that came to support, the atmosphere was electric and a fantastic way to sign off before the Christmas break.
Fylde 4s will meet Longridge in the Lancashire Cup final in the New Year.
Lancaster & District 4 1-4 Fylde 6 Development
Fylde 6’s Development Team completed an excellent first half of the season with a fifth win and a 4-1 defeat of Lancaster & District 4 on Saturday.
This was a re-arranged match from the start of the season and once again the team lost two players overnight, with Dawn Perruzza kindly stepping in to bridge the gap.
The drama continued when Captain Fran posted the wrong venue, Lancaster Uni, instead of Uni of Cumbria!! An easy mistake considering that two clubs had merged and were now using the two venues!
The wonders of Teamo messaging, with Fran redirecting traffic from a desolate University pitch, ensured that all eleven players arrived on time for the start of the match, just 8 minutes round the corner!
Lancaster’s bench was fully stocked but Fylde were determined to put on a good display knowing that substitutions were out of the question!
GK Cora Sweeney was her normal confident self, making good saves when called on and at no fault for their only goal.
Faith Mcgillivray, Farzana Choudhury and Dawn Perruzza held a strong and safe defensive line whilst Fran Loffler-Thompson fretted as Lily Elgendy played a high attacking right half role - constantly attacking the opposition into their D with unrelenting energy!
Julie Knowles and Ruby Roberts played their hearts out in midfield whilst Carenna Leverton, Ella Blackburn and Imy Todd constantly peppered the goal.
Imy and Lily scored a goal each whilst Ruby claimed a brace - all from open play.
Farzana had to leave early (missing the team photo) and leaving us playing the last 25 minutes with 10 players. This appeared to strengthen our resolve as we scored the last two goals after she had gone.
The rain came and went and the deluge started just as we had finished the match.
A well deserved win to a fine team developing a winning mentality. We now take a Christmas break looking forward to a successful New Year!
Fylde 1 1-10 Bolton 1
On this not so sunny morning the Fylde men were pumped up by the prospect of playing Bolton 1 who happen to play two leagues above Fylde 1. Fylde knew they had to show their absolute best against this strong opponent.
Fylde’s line up was strong and with that came optimism, but after the first few minutes Bolton showed their strength by scoring the first goal, 0-1. Bolton’s average age being 24 years didn’t let Fylde lose faith to start with, however Bolton really showed some serious game structure, speed and determination.
This opponent was clearly on a mission to break Fylde’s recent 5-match winning streak. Multiple attempts by Fylde to break through Bolton failed, which lead it to be 0-3 fairly soon.
Fylde realised a change of tactic was needed and various positions and players were moved around. This was all done in an attempt to regain momentum and keep structure. It worked a bit at the end of the 1st half when the ball eventually got over Bolton’s 25 yards line. Richard Clarke and Joseph Shepherd worked together in Bolton’s D to see Richard tap in Joseph’s assist making it 1-3. Within two minutes from that moment nearly the same happened, but the ball just missed the goal.
After a pep-team talk during half time the team was motivated to go in there and see if this could be turned around. Even our late (caught up in a walk-in centre) arriving stand-in Fin Taylor could not help us to turn things around.
To be defeated by 1-10 is certainly not something that these strong Fylde men take lightly. Passion and perseverance was shown till the very last minute even though a win was never in Fylde’s sight. For that Fylde 1 is commendable and the team feels strong and excited to get back to action after Christmas.
Fylde Mixed 6-2 Keswick Mixed (Sunday)
Fylde are through to the 2nd round of the national Mixed Trophy competition (for the losers in the 1st round of the Cup) after a convincing 6-2 win over Keswick in torrential rain.
Fylde fielded 3 of the club's top scoring players with 37 league goals between them, Harry Gordon (17), Sophia Melling (13) and Megan Wildish (7), and they all contributed to the score line.
Harry Gordon scored in the first minute with a reverse strike and then later on for 2 goals in total, Megan Wildish also scored 2, one from a short corner, and Sophia Melling also scored one from a short corner, for a commanding 5-0 lead at half-time.
Within minutes of the second half restarting Richard Clarke had a tap-in at the goalpost following a strike by Jack Jones at the top of the D to make it 6-0. Keswick did manage a couple of consolation goals but the game ended 6-2 to Fylde with a fine performance from all 6 men and 7 ladies involved.
Fylde progress to Round 2 of the EH Trophy and are likely to have another North West team to play on Sunday 25th January.
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