Beverley took to the field on sunday afternoon confident of a good showing on their first ever appearance. As the game kicked off, Beverley immediately took charge of affairs and started to pass the ball with great effect and looked neat, tidy and looked very dangerous. The deadlock was soon broken and on 5 minutes, Kayleigh Oliver got on the end of a neat 1-2 and finished neatly to put the hosts 1 up. Whitestar were soon 2 to the good when 3 minutes later Lauren (Colo) cut in from the left to smash the ball into the top of corner from a full 20 yards.
Beverley were enjoying themselves and dominated as Bridlington struggled to cope with the speed and passing from Whitestar with Zoe Ellis and Rachel Fisher causing problems out wide with their skill and pace. In the 20th minute Whitestar had a goal ruled out for offside but didn’t have to wait long to extend their lead as Kayleigh Oliver made it 3-0 in the 35th minute.
Bridlington were then reduced to 10 women in the 41st minute after losing a player to injury but ironically produced their first shot on goal. This seemed to stir Whitestar on further as Mandy Hurst capitalised on a keeper blunder on 42, Rachel Fisher tapped in after excellent team play on 43, while Kayleigh Oliver completed her hatrick on 44 with another excellent finish. As the whistle blew Beverley were 6-0 to the good.
After such an explosive end to the first half, Bridlington would’ve been hoping Beverley would take their foot off the pedal in the 2nd but Whitestar had other ideas as Kayleigh Oliver again scored from outside the box after a minute. Whenever Bridlington tried to venture forward they were beaten back with tough tackling Mel Marsden and Jenna Potter in defence not giving anything away while in midfield Carisa Mitcheson working hard for the team deserve a lot of credit. Beverley continued to impress and could’ve been further ahead but for the woodwork denying Mandy Hurst.
The lead was extended by the free scoring Oliver (59) while substitute Elmo neatly finished with a low drive on 70. At this stage the game turned into a procession and some excellent long range finishes saw Lauren (Colo) grab her hatrick (73 & 82) eventually ending up with 4 for the afternoon.
At 12-0 with a minute to play to the referee awarded Beverley a penalty for handball. Up stepped Hayley Southern on her first ever competitive game of football who put the ball away with a finish Wayne Rooney would’ve been proud of giving the goalkeeper no chance and gave a goal celebration to match. The ref decided to put ‘brid’ out of their misery and called time at 13-0.
As for season openers go this was perfect for Beverley, they showed great skill, team spirit, vision as well as a killer instinct that will serve them well in their bid to win the title. The woman of the match could on another day gone to anybody but Kayleigh Oliver went away with the bubbles but was run close by Colo and the excellent Zoe Ellis. Up next is an away fixture to Gilberdyke where the girls will expect a tougher game but with the high standards set today will go with great expectations.
Final Score Beverley Whitestar 13 Bridlington Ladies 0
