Billericay Town Women v Plymouth Argyle Women

This Sunday, Argyle Women travel to Essex to face Billericay Town in the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division.

Following an important 3-0 win over London Bees last weekend in the FA Women’s National League Cup, thanks to goals from Georgia Wilson and Charlotte Whitmore. Head Coach Ryan Perks hopes to secure a positive result away from home but is aware of the challenge that may await Argyle.

“We're on the back of a positive result at the weekend and a strong performance, especially for the first 45 minutes,” Perks told Argyle TV. “I was really pleased with how we played. We’ve got to take that performance into the game on Sunday.

“It's a long trip to Billericay. It's always a tough place to go. I think the last couple of seasons we've got a point on the road, so hopefully we can go there and perform as well as we have been playing and get three points.

“We spoke about having a clean sheet mentality and it will be no different this weekend. We want to keep clean sheets. If you defend well and don't concede goals, you've got opportunities to win football games. That's a priority this weekend: keeping another clean sheet.

“We create lots of opportunities in front of goal and the goals will come. We probably should've had a few more on the weekend, but I'd be more concerned if we weren't creating those chances, and the girls weren't getting opportunities.

“Three points is what we're after this weekend, but Billericay will look to bounce back. They drew with MK Dons at the weekend so we're going to expect a reaction from them as well.”

On Wednesday, Argyle announced the loan signing of goalkeeper Comfort Erhabor from Women’s Super League side Brighton & Hove Albion. Perks is delighted the move was completed and that a strong goalkeeping duo is now available for the Greens.

He said: “We’ve been working to try to bring a goalkeeper in all summer really. We were waiting for the right person to come along. We are extremely happy with Lily. She's an excellent young goalkeeper, but we had only one goalkeeper, so if anything happened, we were in trouble.

“Competition for places is always healthy and we've seen that in training already. Both goalkeepers were fantastic and that's what we want at this football club. We want a headache and want the players to make it tough on me to make decisions. That's going to be no different in the goalkeeper department.

“Lily will keep her place this weekend and it’s thoroughly deserved after a clean sheet. We’ll give Comfort the opportunity in the game against Maidenhead United in the cup and then we'll go from there with who fights for that number one spot. It's exciting to have two top goalkeepers at the football club.”

With three long away trips in a row for the Greens, some might see it as a negative. Perks, on the other hand, believes the time spent travelling away from home helps create the bonds needed to succeed this season.

“Travelling gives us a bit more contact time with the players,” Perks said. “Saturday evening, we’ll have a team meeting and a bit of team bonding, and I think with quite a lot of new faces, it gives the girls that bonding time as well.

“I’m quite looking forward to the next three weeks on the road. It sounds weird when we're going to be sat on a bus for long periods but, as I said, it lets us get some detail across to the players on how we want them to play and the time to click together.

“Of course, the absolute main focus is the Sunday and to get the three points away from home.”

Argyle Women suffered a 2-1 defeat away from home in the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division to Billericay Town at the New Lawn on Sunday.

Ellie Sara’s goal before half-time was cancelled out quickly after Breon Grant’s driving finish, adding to Valentine Pursey’s early goal and handing three points to the home side.

The Greens came out of the gates and created a hectic start, with neither side able to claim and hold onto the ball. However, in the third minute, Grant’s volley ricocheted off the bar and dropped into the area, which saw Pursey strike home after a scramble in the box.

Argyle needed to recover from that point and found themselves playing confident and comfortable football, but struggled to create clear-cut chances in front of goal.

After the 20-minute mark, the Greens kicked on and fashioned two efforts towards goal from Sara and Katie Dickson, but neither tested Amiee Watson in the Billericay goal. Just minutes later, Billericay captain Beau Parker was shown the first and only yellow card for her foul on Argyle’s Georgia Wilson.

Then, the inevitable occurred. Sara created space and volleyed home into the bottom corner handing Ryan Perks’ side a highly deserved equaliser.

However, as the clock turned to 45, Billericay Town took the lead for the second time. Grant’s run allowed her a shooting opportunity, which she slotted into the Argyle goal before being mobbed by her jubilant teammates.

The second half produced much of the same as the first 45 minutes, with neither side able to fashion clear chances at goal, but Argyle were dominant on the ball. Defensive confidence and quick passes moved the Greens out of their half, winning multiple free-kicks.

The first chance came for Wilson in the 58th minute, when she looked to replicate her magic finishes from the previous week against London Bees, but her chipped effort ran wide of Watson’s goal and out for a goal kick.

A flurry of opportunities came for the Greens in a short spell, but the much-needed equaliser would not come their way. Charlotte Whitmore picked up the ball in a deep position, drove towards goal and released an effort at Watson, but it was saved easily.

A minute later, Whitmore won a corner for Argyle. It was lofted to the back post towards Caitlin Smith, who won the header but saw her chance fly over the bar. Sara would have found the equaliser on the next attacking phase if it had not been for the recovering Billericay defence, who blocked the goalscorer's shot off the line and out for another corner.

As the game neared its end, Perks turned to his bench for some energy and was nearly rewarded for his choice by Georgie Knott. The midfielder picked up the ball, turned towards goal and fired a long-range effort away from the scrambling Watson, who managed to tip it onto the post and clear away to safety.

Argyle kept the ball and moved forward in the final minutes but did not create another clear shooting opportunity, leaving all players on the floor out of energy when the full-time whistle blew.

The Greens are next in action in the FA Women’s National League Cup on Sunday, 29 September, against Maidenhead United.

Billericay Town: 1 Aimee Watson, 2 Flo Jackson, 4 Ylenia Priest, 5 Bonnie Horwood, 6 Romany Wellington, 7 Valentine Pursey, 10 Layla Kenly (23 Abbi Smith, 68), 11 Breon Grant (20 Kara Fordjour, 77), 12 Beau Parker (capt), 15 Shauna Munnelly, 16 Charlotte O’Shea. Substitutes: 30 Katie O’Hanlon (gk), 3 Tilly Philpot, 8 Nia Evans, 21 Jessica Frances-Weir, 26 Gracie Hickman

Goals: Pursey 3, Grant 45

Booked: Parker 28

Argyle: 1 Lily Felgate, 2 Katie Dickson (3 Roxy Thomas, 77), 5 Giota Papaioannou (capt), 7 Charlotte Whitmore, 8 Imy Crawford, 9 Ellie Sara (20 Fern Orchard, 77), 10 Georgia Wilson, 16 Ella Stephens, 17 Lulu Jarvis (15 Georgie Knott, 77), 24 Ava Kuyken (19 Erin O’Shea, 84), 26 Caitlin Smith. Substitutes: 56 Comfort Erhabor (gk), 4 Amii Kearley, 18 Katie Grigg

Goals: Sara 40

Photo credit: Gemma Brown.

Billericay Town

PLY Argyle Women