Coventry City Ladies made a winning start to their pre-season campaign by sweeping a round-robin tournament hosted by Stoke City. After topping the hosts 2-0 through goals from Jade Formaston & Danni Saulter, the Sky Blues went on to beat Manchester City 1-0 with the only goal coming from Nana Bigirimana.
With the Sky Blues still missing several of their big names, newly appointed management duo Paul Cudby & Matt Whitehouse were able to get a good look at some of the fringe players in a competitive match. It was the established names that really caught the eye in a hard fought opening game versus a strong Stoke City line up.
Katy Moran bossed the midfield from the off with trademark crunching tackles consistently breaking up Stoke's possession & turning defence into attack. The games first real chance came from a Coventry corner in the 23rd minute when Moran struck a sweetly hit volley from the edge of the box which Sue Marshall got down well to save.
The deadlock was broken just seconds later when a deep ball from the right found last season's top scorer Jade Formaston who was able to turn and shoot past a despairing Marshall. The second came deep into first half injury time as Saulter broke off Kelly Henson's measured through ball. Marshall, whose inspired form had kept the score down, came out to narrow the angle making another terrific save. Saulter recovered the loose ball however & was able to fire in off the post from an acute angle.
Both sides made changes at half time with Stoke's Chantelle Gallagher making the greatest impact. Her powerful runs on the left touchline consistently drove Stoke forward and kept replacement keeper Sarah Morgan in the thick of the action. Coventry's defence held firm ably led by Captain Natasha Lynch who looked every bit match sharp even at such an early stage of the pre-season.
The second game kicked off shortly afterwards and unsurprisingly Coventry made a raft of changes with both clubs fielding teams largely made up of reserves. With the wind now gusting across the open playing surface conditions were far from ideal. The Sky Blues defence again looked impressive limiting Man City to hopeful pot shots from outside the area with keeper Adele Rodgers rarely troubled.
Striker Nana Bigirimana scored the games only goal when a soft shot was fumbled by the opposition's goalie allowing the young forward to control & shoot into an empty net. Man City did have a late chance to level the scores when Becky Grocott found space on the left and ran unopposed to the edge of the area before Morgan came out to make a strong challenge and preserve another clean sheet.
One half of the victorious Management duo, Matt Whitehouse, was pleased with the overall performance of the side "I was happy with today, the girls improved over the course of the games and played some nice stuff. I'm confident that Paul & Myself will have the girls firing on all cylinders when the first game comes along". Cudby added "It was a good start to the pre-season, to not concede in 120 minutes of football is obviously very good. Both keepers and the defence looked solid which is a strong positive".
"That said though, there's still a lot of work to be done between now & September the 7th. The players have shown today that they're prepared to work hard & we're confident that they'll carry that through the season & apply themselves fully in training too". The Sky Blues next pre-season test comes in the shape of West Ham United on the 3rd of August.
Line up vs. Stoke: -
Rodgers (Morgan 30), Whitfield (Bigirimana 30), Lowe, Moran, Lynch (C), Forbes, Formaston, Henson, Saulter, Staples, Bradford (Davis 14).
Goals: - Formaston 23, Saulter 30 (+2).
Line up vs. Manchester City: -
Rodgers (Morgan 30), Whitfield, Sidwell, Smith C, Smith K, Ogle, Formaston (Lowe), Saulter (Henson 30), Ballie, Bigirimana (Staples 30), Davis.
Goals: - Bigirimana 17.