Albion Women secured a battling victory over Halifax in the FA Women’s National League North on Sunday afternoon.
The Baggies steamed into a two-goal advantage courtesy of Fran Orthdoxou and Rhianne Oakley efforts, before Halifax’s Megan Cardenas grabbed one back just before the halfway mark.
A Simran Jhamat penalty saw Albion restore their advantage, meaning even a late Halifax consolation couldn’t deny the visitors all three points.
Siobhan Hodgetts-Still’s side are next in action on Sunday, January 26 (3pm) where they’ll host Liverpool Feds.
The head coach made three changes to the side that visited Manchester United in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup last weekend. Seren Watkins, Ellie May and Ali Miller made way for Mariam Mahmood, Oakley and Jhamat.
Albion began the game with plenty of attacking vigour. Oakley raced through on goal in the early stages and poked her effort agonisingly wide of the target. It wouldn’t be long before the visitors made their early burst out of the traps count. Orthdoxou poked the ball into the bottom corner after a scramble in the area to make it 1-0.
Striker Oakley didn’t wait to double their advantage. She turned her defender, pushed past another and rifled beyond the stranded goalkeeper.
The hosts struck on the stroke of half time through Cardenas, but the Baggies came out for the second half with plenty of purpose. Jhamat was brought down as she jinked into the box; the creative attacker then cooly dispatched the resulting penalty kick.
Albion tried to continue their scoring streak after that. Taylor Reynolds saw her effort blocked as it looped towards the Halifax goal, while Jhamat could've added her second as she blazed a volley over.
Sienna Limbert scored having escaped the Albion defenders’ attention on the break just minutes from time. It proved to be nothing more than a consolation though, as Hodgetts-Still's outfit saw out the final moments with some resolute defending.
Albion Women: Miller; Brown (Oliver 64'), Reynolds, Green, George (Haughey 77’); Orthodoxou, Rabjohn (Evans 87’); Warner, Jhamat (May 64’), Mahmood (Rhodes 77’); Oakley.
Substitutes: Harris.
