South West Women’s League
Premier Division
Keynsham Town Development 4, Ilminster Town Ladies 2

ILMINSTER Town Ladies made the familiar trip towards Bristol to face Keynsham Town Women’s Development side on Sunday.

There was a call-up for reserve players Lucy Pitman and Shakira Howard, and both put in fine displays.

It was end-to-end from the start but the hosts broke the deadlock in the 27th minute from a corner after a fine save from Charlotte Johnson, and they doubled their lead five minutes later.

The Blues hit back before the break following a deep free-kick which caused panic in the home defence, and the ball found its way into the net off a defender.

The visitors then equalised in the 52nd minute through Howard, who converted a fine pass from Lucy Pitman.

But, within 10 minutes, the home side had re-taken the lead with a fine move being finished in style.

The game was very physical in places, with numerous strong challenges and an altercation saw a Keynsham player seeing yellow, as well as Ilminster’s Amy Burge.

Ilminster went a further goal down in the 84th minute, as a loose ball in the box was poked home.

The scorer of that goal – Leilah King – saw red soon after for a second bookable offence, but Ilminster were well shackled by the home defence so lost 4-2.

Their other goals came from Rhianna Ben-Carew, Emily Plummer and Liberty Sims.

Ilminster’s joint players of the match were Pitman and Howard, the latter having worked hard to get back into the game after a nasty injury two years ago.

Ilminster: Charlotte Johnson, Shakira Howard, Sammie Knight, Daisy Charles, Dana Andrews, Charlie Pettinger, Sarah Miller (C), Lucy Pitman, Maisie Parker, Amy Burge, Graziely Esperanca. Sub: Hannah Billing.

Ilminster – fifth in the table – host Keynsham in a fortnight’s time (March 25) with a 2pm start at The Archie Gooch Pavilion.