COVENTRY CITY LADIES 2-3 MANCHESTER CITY BY KEV MONKS
Coventry City face a battle to avoid relegation back to the Midland Combination after they were beaten at home by Manchester City.
Injuries and illnesses meant Mark Phillips had to field a changed team from the one that had lost at Wolves in the FA Cup next week.
Young keeper Georgina Perry was making her first Coventry appearance of the season and after two minutes,she was picking the ball out of the net as a Laurza Gligan corner flew off Natasha Lynch and into the net.
Lynch did not let this affect her and cleared off the line in the 12th minute to concede a corner. Again Gligan took the kick and it fell for Louise Wakefield to stab into the net.
Along with Natasha Lynch,Karen Weston and Emma Lipman were working hard to stop the visitors attacks. In the 18th minute,Lipman cleared a Caroline Dixon effort off the line and six minutes later repeated the feat when she hacked away a Gemma Sconce effort.
In the 29th minute,a long ball from Emma Lipman found Maria Cartwright who knocked the ball forward to City skipper Laura Healy who nipped through before blasting the ball high into the net from eight yards.
Thoughts amongst the City supporters at a cold Coventry Sphinx of an immediate comeback were thwarted four minutes later as Caroline Dixon tore down the right flank and beat Perry with a low drive from the edge of the area.
Lipman was forced to limp off with a knee injury just before a half-time interval in which the City players were severely lambasted by their manager who is expected to unveil two new signings this week.
Phillips brought on Julia and Sarah Marshall in a bid to get City going and with twelve minutes left,Coventry reduced the arrears further when Anna McLeod was at the far post to slam home from a corner.
City face Rugby Town in a Birmingham County FA Cup Third round game at Coventry Sphinx on Sunday before they travel to Manchester City in a rearranged fixture on January 9th.
TEAM
Perry,Bryenton,Lipman (Hickmott 43),
Healy (J.Marshall 67),Lynch,Weston,
Whalley,Cartwright,Box,Baker (S.Marshall 60),
McLeod SNU G.Smith,R.Smith
Coventry City Ladies Reserves continued to do well in their WPL Reserve League Second Division Northern fixtures with a 6-3 home win over Lincoln City. Lauren Lockwood,Mel Byrne and Lucy Morgan all scored two goals apiece.