Northallerton welcomed York RI in the North Riding Women’s Premier League, Northallerton were looking to close the gap on Linthorpe and chase down a top 3 finish.

Town were ahead inside the opening 5 mins, leading scorer Hannah Bowe brought down a clearance, drove into the box and rounded the keeper to slot into an empty net, 1-0 Town great start.

4 mins later, against the run of play RI caught out Town with a ball beyond the defence -
a moment of hesitation allowed the attacker time to place their shot beyond Lydia Stephenson, 1-1.

The town response to conceding as ever was immediate, two minutes later the ladies restored their lead, another attempted ball over the top by RI was met first thanks to the blistering pace of Eva Jordan, Jordan took the ball out wide and showed great composure to find Full Back Brogan Wood, who sent a pass down the wing to Emily “Twinkle toes” Metcalfe, Metcalfe turned the RI midfield inside out before delivering a great ball into the box, Katie Boynton read the flight perfectly. Beating the RI keeper before rounding her and slotting home, 2-1 Town.

Town had several good chances before RI brought the game level again, a penalty awarded against Amy Ross - an awkward bounce just inside the area struck Ross’s arm, Stephenson got a hand to the powerful strike but not enough to prevent RI making it 2-2.

Ross redeemed herself with a fantastic goal 4 minutes later, Wood with a throw in to Jordan down the right hand side, Jordan found Bowe who burst down the wing and cut into the box before delivering a cross, Jess Pattison collected the attempted clearance and combined with Lauren Howard & Ross, executing passing patterns straight from the training ground, concluding with a ball to Boynton on the edge that was laid off to Ross to fire just under the bar from about 25 yards, 3-2, Town getting into their stride now.

5 mins from time, captain Abbey Walker intercepted an attempted through ball, laid off Emily Smailes who delivered great ball into the path of Boynton who was brought down in the box. Smailes “cashed in” on the penalty, the shot just had enough height and power to beat the keeper, 4-2.

Shortly after the restart Pattison met a clearance from the RI keeper with a great header finding Bowe who put a teasing ball beyond the RI defence, Boynton chased it down, a mix up between the panicked defender and GK gifted Boynton the ball to round the GK a second time and slot into the empty net, 5-2.

Half Time - Town deservedly lead 5-2.

The message in the changing room was play with confidence!

Town started brightly with Boynton nearly netting again in the opening 2 mins, unfortunately missing the empty net after a series of attempts by several players struck the bar and bounced around the box. Town were camped in the RI half with Boynton, Beth Costick & Ruth Jeal all coming agonisingly close to extending the score.

On 57 mins Bowe collected the ball inside the Town half, a great crossfield ball found Metcalfe who squared to Boynton in the box who rifled into the top corner for her hat-trick! A counter attack with speed and precision to make it 6-2.

On 72 mins Imogen Pattison, younger sister of Jess, made a great interception, bursting forward from halfway way to recover the ball and feed Jeal in the box who struck the ball into the far corner for 7-2.

The second half changes bringing younger players in the squad on for valuable minutes shows the bright future ahead of the team, with all showing great intensity and ability throughout the half; making their own contributions to the result.

Full Time - Town 7 - RI 2.

Managers Player this week goes to Eva Jordan, the defender was everywhere today, thwarting several attacks with fantastic pace and demonstrating great confidence to keep the ball in play and take us from defending into attacking!
Well done Eva! ?
Eva is sponsored by Mark Roberts Engineering Ltd.