FIREWORKS IN MERSEYSIDE

Garstang started brightly with some good passing in the final third and put some early pressure on the LU’s goal. Reb Worthington was in the mood on the right wing and was linking up well with an in-form Lyndsey Hayes in the central midfield.

15 minutes in and the pendulum swung in LU’s favour and Garstang simply allowed the students to mount pressure on their goal. Garstang became disorganised and were unable to maintain any sort of possession. Luckily for the reds player-of-the-match, keeper Lisa Richardson was cat-like and was in a dominant mood at the back.

The pressure finally told when LU took a quick free hit just outside the 25m area and fired into the Garstang D and an umarked forward neatly deflected into the net. Garstang then collected their ‘get out of jail’ card when the official deemed an illegal manouvre. This let-off still didn’t seem to shake the reds into action and they looked shaky as the half-time whistle blew.

After stern words from head coach Dave Gee Garstang tried to forge some link up play. Lily Helme was making some promising runs forward with her strong drives up the wing. The game deteriorated at points with tempers flaring between players. LU were making it extremely hard for Garstang to maintain possession by isolating players in numbers and not allowing the reds to implement their passing game.

At last Garstang were finally inspired; an interchange between Hayes and Worthington on the left created space for Worthington to place a pin point pass across LU’s D to an oncoming Helme, who made no mistake and fired in from the right.

The game played out with more pressure from the students where Lisa Richardson earned her star performance with a string of fantastic saves. Garstang breathed a huge sigh of relief when the final whistle blew.