RHYDDING women’s 1s secured their first win of the season away at Northern rivals, Brooklands.

 So far, Rhydding have struggled to convert strong performances in to victories, despite relentless hard work throughout the season.
It was an intense start to the game, with early chances for both sides. After the first ten minutes, Rhydding took control and went ahead after a sustained period of possession in the Brooklands half. Becca Birch picked the ball up on the edge of the D, beat two Brooklands defenders and fired the ball home in to the roof of the net.
Rhydding continued the pressure, with midfielders Purvis and Davies both cutting through the middle of the pitch. Brooklands lost patience and were given a green card for breaking down play. Towards the end of the first half, Brooklands had a couple of chances to take them level, but keeper Charlotte Smith and defender Rachelle Le Bourdon both combined to keep the hosts at bay.
Brooklands came out of the blocks firing in the 2nd half, and they were rewarded with a goal scored by former Rhydding player Baxter, from a short corner.
The Brooklands lead didn’t last long, as Rhydding retaliated with a well worked short corner. Beth Cordukes firing the ball home inside the post. In the final seconds of the game, Brooklands were awarded a short corner and four consecutive re-awards. Kirsty Goodbold flying out as number one runner forced a mistake from Brooklands, and the game was drawn to a close with huge cheers from the away supporters.
The win takes Rhydding up to six points, closing the gap to just two points behind Brooklands in the table. The women’s 1st team are at home for the next two weeks, playing Swansea this Saturday and then Leeds next week - both games at 1.30pm


Preston Men 5 -Ben Rhydding 2

Who could have written a script like this? Ben Rhydding go to Preston after an unbeaten run in their last four games and lose to bottom of the league, who had to date, zero points.

Rhydding began well and converted an early corner courtesy of Will Musgrave to go ahead. Things looked quite straightforward at this point for Rhydding and they quickly converted possession to another corner which they scored beautifully, but the umpire at distance controversially overruled it. The game probably would have slid into the normal pattern from here for Preston, but this lifted their tails.

Preston equalised when Rhydding lost their shape and then threw the kitchen sink at them. Preston won a dubious penalty stroke which the magnificent Ed Snelling saved but then converted a corner to take the lead on the last whistle of the half.

Rhydding came out and pressed more aggressively, which rewarded then with a goal just seconds into the second half. Rob Ramsden winning the ball and setting George Gamble off who popped the perfect ball to Charlie Smith to skilfully beat the keeper. It felt like Rhydding were back on track on now. But just as they scored, the umpire blew his whistle to give them a corner which sadly, they did not convert.

However, Preston went up the other end and got a corner which they did score from to take them into the lead. Rhydding’s heads went down and Preston scored again with an easy overload. Resorting to taking the keeper off was a last ditch attempt to save the day but Rhydding’s heads were gone; they did not execute the emergency plan and Preston scored again to finish it off.

This was shock result for the league and Rhydding will find it hard to swallow it.

The Men play Sheffield Hallam on Saturday at home at 4.30pm - which should be an exciting game under the floodlights.