Rhema Lord-Mears wonder-goal helps Huddersfield Town Women beat upper-tier Loughborough
Town beat Loughborough 3-2 in tough conditions at the Stafflex Arena in the FAWNL Plate.
Rhema Lord-Mears proved to be the match winner as Huddersfield Town Women saw off their higher division opponents Loughborough Lightning - alongside a goal for stand-in striker Hannah Burgess and a first of the season for Rebecca Beresford.
Lord-Mears put Town 3-0 up with a cracking strike and Preston was quick to praise her influence on the side.
He said: “Rhema the Screamer we call her. She’s got this knack of being able to stick a ball in from 20, 25 yards.
“When she gets on the turn at the edge of the box she’s brilliant. It’s what we missed last week.
“She’s got the ability to unlock a defence and strike from anywhere. She’s got fantastic quality and she’s shown it once again.”
Preston’s side got off to a rapid start, racing into a 2-0 lead inside eight minutes in what proved to be an end-to-end encounter.
The opener came on four minutes with a brilliantly worked team goal. Autumn Housley stepped out of defence and found Lord-Mears who turned the ball around her marker with ease.
Rebecca Beresford then latched onto the flick before charging through one-on-one with the keeper to smash the ball home from just inside the box.
In a frantic opening 10 minutes, the visitors should have leveled, but Bethan Davies held a close range effort.
And Town made Loughborough pay for their wastefulness almost instantly, after Davies’ long ball forward seemed to be dealt with, Burgess pressed and won the ball on the edge of the box before slotting home to make it 2-0.
The conditions made the game tricky. Long grass in wet weather made it difficult for both teams to get their passes right and Ella Duffield almost gave Loughborough a lifeline. Her backpass held up giving the visitors a run on goal.
Duffield then did well to delay an effort at goal but when it did come it looked destined to hit the back of the net. However, Housley appeared from seemingly nowhere to head clear off the line with Davies beaten.
With the game settling down, Town made the most of a spell of possession. A corner was recycled by captain Beth Stanfield who found Lord-Mears on the edge of the box. The midfielder then brilliantly skipped away from a defender before unleashing a rocket into the top corner from 25 yards — a superb goal.
Just as it seemed Town would go into half time three goals to the good, Loughborough hit back.
Three minutes into added time, Charlotte Steggles whipped a loose ball into the bottom corner from 18-yards.
The second half took a while to get going with Town happy to battle to see off their higher division opponents.
But with 15 minutes to go, Lightning got it back to within one goal when Alice Higginbottom lashed a fantastic effort into the top corner from the edge of the box - very little Davies could do to keep it out.
The tie should have been extended late on but Jess Collyer could only head wide from close range despite having the freedom of the Stafflex to score.
After the game, Glen Preston was pleased with how his team bounced back after disappointment last week.
He told We Are Terriers: “I’m delighted because we’ve done it every time we’ve lost so far this season. A result hasn’t gone our way but the players just keep showing the right resilience, the right mentality and attitude to dig deep and find the right result. We just make sure the last result doesn’t affect us.”
Town will be hoping to be plying their trade at the level Loughborough are currently playing next season — and Preston was gratified to discover that the gap in quality was non-existent, especially having been battered by Loughborough’s divisional rivals Burnley earlier this season.
He added: “To come out of the blocks and go three-up against a Loughborough side in the division above showed exactly what we want from the players
“It was a strange game. It could have ended up any score. We had the chance to make it 4-0 but they also had two or three big chances too. But when we got it to 3-0 we were comfortable.
“Did we deserve to be 3-0 up? Probably not but after that I don’t think they had many clear chances after the first 20 minutes or so - we didn’t give them much at all.”
With injuries still plaguing the side, Preston also saw Hannah Burgess need to be replaced after a knock. Despite the prognosis looking good for Burgess, Preston is still on the look out to add to the ranks - and admits he might be close to a long-term target.
“Hannah’s okay I think”, he said “She’s just taken a stud and it’s a bit of a painful one.”
“We’re talking to a club about a player potentially coming in on loan but we’re just waiting to see. That might be another week or so before we hear anything about that one.
“It’s a player we’ve been after for a year or two. The kind of player we absolutely need. A dynamic, direct, pacy and aggressive attacking player. So we’ll wait and see.
“We’ve got a few other irons on the fire but it’ll be a month or so before teams start making players really available.”
Next up for Town sees the visit of Wythenshawe to the Stafflex Arena in the FA Cup first round next Sunday.