A fiery encounter with Huncote saw Long Eaton end their rivals promotion chances and significantly increase there own with a hard fought, crucial 1 nil win.
The game was destined to be a close affair as both teams were chasing league leaders Hinckley for the top spot and the only promotion place.
Long Eaton travelled to Huncote struggling with players due to holidays and injuries but from the off everyone gave one hundred percent.
Both teams were hungry for the win and immediately Huncote were on the attack, producing some good football, however they couldn’t find the end product, coming up against a resilient Long Eaton defence.
Long Eaton were playing a 4-5-1 formation, leaving Jodie Hancock upfront alone, but to her credit she hassled the Huncote defence causing them real problems. The Blues nearly found a way through on the counter attack as Armstrong used her pace on the right but couldn’t make the final ball pay.
This was to be the case on many of the Blues attacks, Hancock struggling to beat the offside trap and often finding herself outnumbered.
The two teams battled on in the increasingly boggy conditions and it was end to end stuff, Long Eaton couldn’t quie regain the passing movement they’d enjoyed last week in their 6 nil thrashing of Daventry. However as the half wore on Huncote became frustrated and Long Eaton took confidence from this.
The half time whistle came to find the two teams still at stalemate.
The second half kicked of with a renewed effort from Huncote, their strikers came close on several occasions, utilising their pacey right winger, proving to be a wake up call for the Blues who started the second half sluggish.
However the Blues fought their way back into the game and again broke on the counter attack, but just couldn’t get the finish they needed.
The end to end play continued with Blues keeper Cairo Hopewell pulling out all the stops to keep Long Eaton in the game. As Huncote’s pressure came to nothing, the Blues again took confidence from this and attacked the evermore panicky Huncote defence.
The turning point in the game came when the Huncote captain visciously elbowed Long Eaton midfielder Kimi Harford in the face as the referee’s back was turned.
It was a shocking act of violence that was witnessed by everyone except the referee and as a result the referee could not send the player off, to the horror of the Long Eaton players and coaching staf. However the Huncote manager took the wise decision to substitute the player off the field.
The Long Eaton players were incensed at the needless act which left Kimi Harford needing prolonged treatment, but it did spur the ladies on to clain their revenge in the best way possible.
With renewed determination the Blues attacked Huncote, winning free kicks and corners but again they couldn’t make it count and with time running out the visitors feared they would not get the break they deserved.
With 5 minutes to go the Blues won another corner and as Carly Hayes whipped the ball in it bobbled around dangerously in the area before Hayley Armstrong managed to get her foot to it to poke it just over the line.
A euphoric Long Eaton side celebrated a well deserved goal, gradually wearing down Huncote to get the better of the Leicestershire side.
Long Eaton held on for the frantic last 5 minutes to claim all 3 points and dump Huncote out of the title race.
It was a good game of football marred by one player, whose actions were condemned by both her team mates and the Huncote coach.
No one could argue the Blues deserved the win, a brilliant battling perfomance from the ladies who have now turned the heat up on league leaders Hinckley. With two games in hand Long Eaton can take the league title if they win all their remaining fixtures, certainly a pheasable task given the ladies recent form.
