Report | Argyle Women v Oxford United
Plymouth Argyle Women fell to a 4-0 defeat at Coach Road against Oxford United on Sunday in the FA Women’s National League.
Argyle began the first half with attacking intent, coming close to breaking through the Oxford backline but were unable to challenge the visitors goalkeeper Paris Sercombe. Oxford responded through Zoe Barratt and Izzy Cook who both netted inside the area as The Greens struggled to clear.
Although down by two goals, Argyle continued to look for a way back into the match. Midfielder Georgie Knott worked tirelessly to win back possession on numerous occasions to force the Greens further up the pitch. Jemma Rose and Imy Crawford both had chances to bring Argyle back into the game, but neither were able to find a way past the hands of Sercombe.
As the half came to an end Barratt extended the visitors lead to three with an impressive strike from range that flew into the top left corner, beating the rooted Jasmine Read. Forward Charlotte Whitmore would try to respond minutes later following a well-weighted pass from Crawford over the Oxford backline with a strike of her own. But, pressure from an Oxford defender made the shot difficult for the Argyle number seven to finish, meaning another comfortable save for Sercombe inside her area.
The second half saw the Greens continue to fight the U’s from the get-go. Great link-up play from Mia Endacott, Katie Dickson and Knott put Argyle in another positive position. Jade Berrow attempted to control and finish Dickson’s cross into the area but came under too much pressure from the visitor's defence. The ball eventually fell for Rose just outside the area who hammered a shot goalwards that deflected towards the top corner of the net, but Sercombe reacted quickly and caught the danger mid-flight.
Oxford responded well once again through Barratt who secured her hat-trick from the edge of the area, with a slotted strike into the bottom right corner.
Despite being down by four goals Argyle's spirit didn’t waver as the Greens continued to look for a way back into the match. Endacott surged down the right-hand side in the 56th minute and played a diagonal ball across the field for Whitmore. The skilful winger found her way into the area and struck a shot goalwards that looked to have finally beaten Sercombe, but the ball clattered the crossbar and was cleared seconds later.
Manager Ryan Perks began to make gradual substitutions following the chance in an attempt to bring the Greens back into the match. Although they all came on and worked tirelessly none however were able to change the scoreline as the final whistle blew for full-time.
“I don’t really think we deserved to lose 4-0,” said Perks reflecting on his side's performance. “I think we matched them in and out of possession for long periods. We just got caught out with a couple of long balls over the top and a couple of individual errors at the back and they’ve got a prolific goal scorer in Zoe Barratt that punished us.
"Georgie Knott was brilliant once again this week and the substitutes that came on did well to impact the game as well as apply themselves. Football's a game of two boxes and Oxford were ultimately the better in both at the end of the day and that’s the reality.
"In spells we played some excellent stuff and caused Oxford some problems as well, we just struggled with the final ball today and lacked a bit of composure and quality decision-making. There are lots of positives to take from this game though, we just have to dust ourselves off and go again next weekend and learn from it.”
Argyle: 1 Jasmine Read (42 Lily Felgate), 2 Katie Dickson (20 Fern Orchard), 4 Jemma Rose, 5 Panagiota Papaioannou (C), 6 Lucy Hack (19 Erin O’Shea), 7 Charlotte Whitmore, 8 Imy Crawford, 11 Jade Berrow (9 Ellie Sara), 15 Georgie Knott, 18 Taya Pomfret, 29 Mia Endacott.
