AFC Wimbledon Ladies moved into promotion contention with a victory at Hashtag United on Sunday – and manager Kevin Foster said there’s plenty of confidence that his side can keep it going.
Following the highly impressive 2-1 win, Kevin said: “I think this shows the belief in the girls. We knew they were going to keep coming at us with the way that they play and set up, but we kept on going. That resilience and mental strength was a pleasure to be involved with.”
The Dons went into the game having already beaten Hashtag on their home turf in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup back in November. The trip to the league leaders was still always going to be a tough test for the Dons, especially coming at the end of a run of three consecutive away games inside eight days.
Though the hosts had the better of it early on, the Dons stood firm, despite having to make a late change with Angel Fowler replacing Rebecca Sargent, who was injured in the warm-up. It needed brilliant defending from the back four of Emily Oliver, Hannah Billingham, Angel Fowler and Hannah Billingham for the Dons to survive the first 20 minutes. After that the Dons started to get a foothold in the game and in the 27th minute the breakthrough was made. It came through another long-range effort by number nine Ashlee Hincks, who struck her 22nd goal of the season in superb style.
The second-half started in the same way as the first with Wimbledon battling hard to come out on top. Megan Stow started to exert her influence, but the introductions of Rebecca Carter and Katie Stanley were needed to seal the verdict. It took less than two minutes for Carter to double the advantage as she produced an excellent finish after impressive pressing play had forced the error. Though the hosts ensured a nervy finish by scoring with 10 minutes to go, the Dons held on to close the gap on the leaders to nine points with two games in hand.
Next up for our women’s first-team is a match versus Cambridge City at Carshalton Athletic (2.00 pm kick-off). The game originally scheduled for the Cherry Red Records Stadium had to be moved due to the number of fixtures in the next month or so.
AFC Wimbledon Ladies: Faye Baker, Emily Oliver, Kelly Highman, Angel Fowler, Hannah Billingham, Steph Man, Emily Donovan, Megan Stow (Molly Childerhouse), Chloe Sampson (Katie Stanley), Ashlee Hincks, Gloria Siber (Rebecca Carter). Unused Subs: Rosie Russell, Rebecca Sargent.
Pic credit: Glyn Roberts.