By Patrick Lay

Rugby Borough Women v Portsmouth Women

I finally decided to watch my first ever Pompey Women’s game last Sunday and did so against the most northerly side in the FA Women’s National League South – Rugby Borough Women. The match was a huge six pointer with Pompey Women in 2nd and one place ahead of their hosts on goal difference (albeit a whopping 25 more).

Perhaps fitting I should go to the game with my wife Ajit (herself from Coventry originally) considering that Coventry United Women (nee Coventry City Ladies) have only this season relocated to Rugby thus forming an alliance as Rugby Borough Women at their Kilsby Lane home. Cue Ajit’s mixed feelings ahead of the game.

Based in Birmingham, we set off around midday and made the 1 hour drive across the M6 and the dreary looking clouds made us wonder if we would have the delight of standing in the rain with similar wet weather from the previous few days in Brum.

We arrived at the stadium car park around 1pm and had the added bonus of free parking. But it was their match day prices for their Women’s team that amazed us. On their club website, it states fans decide what they feel the ticket price deserves. It then states that the prices for league games in the top three divisions of English women’s football are between £4-£20, meaning an average of £8.

This format sounded perfectly reasonable for us as myself and Ajit champion equality and putting money into the women’s game, so £8 is what we paid at the gate. Ironically we paid £1 more each than the match day price of Rugby Borough Men’s first team which was listed by the entrance.  

Being a creature of habit, I wanted to buy a matchday programme but couldn’t see anyone selling them and subsequently found out their Men’s games have printed ones but their Women’s games are only available online on their club website. I expect that programmes might all become digital before long, but it was slightly disappointing there isn’t the same parity yet.

Kilsby Lane itself is about 3 miles east of Rugby town centre and near the M1. This impressive facility has a host of grass and 3G pitches with the latter surface being used on the main pitch for today’s game.

There were several other matches taking place during the game we were watching, including a kid’s game on the neighbouring pitch which added to the community feel about the facility. Although as we often heard the sound of the referee’s whistle coming over, this did make us wonder for a split second why our game was being stopped?

Also on adjacent council land behind the south end of the ground is the impressive sized and new Rugby Gymnastics Club which opened this year.

A fine set up although what is bizarre (as pictured) is where the two small stands (which hold about 50 seats a piece) are built. One of them is situated between the half way line and the penalty area (presumably because the dug outs on the half way line would obscure the fans view?).

But even more interesting is why the other stand at the north end of the ground is built over by the corner flag when surely it should be slap bang behind the goal?

At that end you can also see a couple of Pompey flags including one with the specific Portsmouth FC Women club badge. Always good to see Pompey well represented on the road.

 

 

We made our way into the club house for some pre-match food before finding a spot next to some fellow Pompey fans at the front of the club house by the side of the pitch. I got chatting to them and told them it was my first Pompey’s Women’s game (ditto Ajit’s) and they were really friendly and welcoming to us.

Just before kick-off, I took the obligatory selfie of me & Ajit (as pictured below) for my social media pages and almost immediately one of Ajit’s cousins in India gave the photo a ‘Like’ and commented by wishing us “Good Luck” – maybe the start of a Pompey Women’s fanbase in the Punjab?

 

 

By now the weather had turned into a bright autumnal afternoon as the game commenced.

Pompey Women started like a side brimming with confidence having scored goals aplenty this season and immediately Emma Jones had a shot which their keeper Erin Foley had to palm away for a corner.

We continued to press and always looked dangerous going forward with some chances created. But our goalkeeper Hannah Haughton was then called into action mid-way through the first half and pulled off a fine save diving low to her left to tip a shot round for a corner from Rugby Borough Women striker Lily Greenslade.

The game was now looking like it might go either way (as you’d expect from 2 high flying sides) as we continued to attack then arguably our best chance to take the lead came from a free kick which Emma Jones again forced a decent save.  

The weather then turned colder when a large cloud came over the ground, but the cloud lifted in more ways than one as we took the lead on 41 minutes in spectacular fashion.

From a corner, the ball was not cleared and squared wide to Beth Lumsden who cut inside the box before driving a cracking left foot strike into the top corner giving Foley no chance.

🔝🗑️ from @x_lumsden = 😮‍💨#Pompey pic.twitter.com/uW2Ib9bUCZ

— Portsmouth Women (@PompeyWomen) October 23, 2023

That goal made it 5 in the last 3 for Lumsden to put her on 9 goals for this season and just 1 behind current joint top scorers Dani Lane and Sophie Quirk.

Quirk herself almost doubled our lead as she moved into the penalty area but her shot was saved by Foley. Overall a first half dominated by Pompey Women.

HT: Rugby Borough 0-1 Pompey Women

The weather stayed bright after the break as the 2nd half got underway with us facing into the bright sunshine, Ajit made the sensible decision to wear her sunglasses for the rest of the game.

 

 

As you’d expect Rugby came at us after the break and a fair amount of this half was in our penalty area as the hosts looked to draw level and made a strong penalty appeal which was turned down. But we kept scrapping away and managed to limit their clear-cut opportunities in front of goal.

Meanwhile, Pompey continued to press and some good link up play saw a few chances created as we still led by a single goal. It was in the final 15 minutes when manager Jay Sadler brought four of our five substitutes into action as he looked to preserve our lead.

1-0 is always a knife edge and late on goalkeeper and captain Hannah Haughton made two crucial saves.

Firstly from a Greenslade header following a corner, then with 5 minutes to go an outstanding and potential match winning stop by the captain to again thwart Greenslade who broke through one-on-one with her.

As the 90 minutes passed it was like football in the old days before the 4th official held up the number of minutes added time. As the minutes ticked by, cue the inevitable questions from my fellow Pompey fans to the racing linesman of how much longer?

This tension was almost eased in stoppage time and the game nearly witnessed another blockbuster when Nicole Barrett unleashed a curling drive that looked destined for the top corner but came crashing back off the bar.

With the game deep into added time, one of our substitutes Ella Humphrey went down injured by the touchline and almost by their corner flag. Humphrey received treatment then to our horror and amazement, she was shown the red card which we would later find out the bizarre reason why.

As stoppage time minutes now went into double figures, the hosts continued to chase the game with Pompey now a player down and a succession of corners were forced which saw keeper Foley come up into our box but Pompey defended resolutely.

When the referee finally blew for full time, we celebrated three vital away points from this huge six pointer at CV21 as we moved three points clear of the home side in 2nd and three points behind Hashtag United Women. But with our game in hand and far superior goal difference to the Essex side, things are poised very nicely for Jay Sadler’s team.

As the players made their way off the pitch and into the club house, it was particularly nice to see our players taking time to immediately stand around and interact with the fans.

Although it was a disappointing end to the game for Ella Humphrey, it was fascinating to hear first-hand the bizarre circumstances behind her red card.

It turns out she was already on a yellow card for an earlier incident, but whilst down injured by the touchline she rolled back on the pitch in order to receive treatment but in doing so the referee booked her again and sent her off.

Unsurprisingly the referee was on the receiving end of a few boos and comments from some of our fans as he made his way down the tunnel, but thankfully this bizarre late red card proved irrelevant to the result on the day.

 

FT: Rugby Borough Women 0-1 Pompey Women

 

 

Up next then is a double bill of MK Dons Women, first in the National League Cup at Stadium MK (just 37 miles down the M1 from Rugby Borough) before the Buckinghamshire side (currently in 5th place) travel to West Leigh Park a week later in the league just 4 points behind Pompey Women.

It was back over to Birmingham for Ajit and myself having thoroughly enjoyed our maiden Pompey Women’s game and a matchday experience that we would recommend for any of our fans who have so far only watched the Men’s side. Now on to the next Pompey’s Women’s match to go to this season. PUPW PWPU.