The Blues promotion hopes were dealt a potentially disastrous blow at the weekend as they lost 5-3 to Daventry Town.
Long Eaton travelled down to Daventry after a week off, hoping to get back to winning ways. However it was a shaky start from the Blues who looked to be getting complacent.
The ladies were fielding a changed side due to player absence and the home side dominated the midfield, the Blues struggling to get a stranglehold on the game.
Daventry took confidence from this and pressured the Long Eaton defence winning corners but to no avail.
Long Eaton attacked the mid-tablers but were stopped in their tracks by Daventry’s pacey centre halves.
Then the speedy Town forward made a surging run down the right and crossed to find her team mate in the box who made no mistake of smashing home to put the home side one up.
The goal shell shocked the Blues who decided to book up their ideas and immediately attacked Daventry to return the balance, and this didn’t take long as Jodie Hancock latched onto a Lisa Jones through ball pushing the ball past the Town keeper who had committed herself and brought Hancock down, the ref immediately pointing to the spot.
Charlotte Healy stepped up and decisively put the penalty away to level the scores.
After the early scare Long Eaton knew they’d need to be on their toes to get points from the game.
But again the Blues lost the battle for midfield, and it didn’t take long for Daventry to regain the upper hand as the Blues back four couldn’t clear the lines and the home sides forward capitalised to slot home.
At 2-1 down the Blues could still get in the game but they didn’t seem to want it as much as Daventry and after the home side won another corner the shot came in and somehow slipped through the packed box as no one could get a foot to it and it crept into the net, 3-1 up to the home team.
Half time came with the Blues needing a good talking to if they were to claw back the deficit and keep the promotion push alive.
It seemed the talk worked as the Blues began the second half with renewed effort. They battled for every ball and with a change of formation to give Hancock more support up front they looked dangerous again.
However it was the home side again who extended the lead somewhat against the run of play despite the Blues best efforts. 4-1 down the ladies could have folded but credit to them they again battled to earn back some pride.
New signing Clarky impressed with an excellent through ball which released Jodie Hancock who clinically guided the ball past the Daventry keeper to put the score to 4-2 and the fight still on.
The Blues finally looked more dominant and chances came, Hayley Armstrong should have put one away after she found herself through for a one on one with the keeper but the Daventry stopper came better off to keep the Blues out at bay.
It really looked like it wasn’t to be Long Eaton’s day as they became undone by another set piece, and it became obvious why Daventry striker Kerry Luckett was the league top scorer, as Daventry were the first to connect with their corner to put the scores at 5-2 with less than 10 minutes on the clock.
The Blues knew better than to give up, they owed that much to themselves, and they battled on to earn one more consolation goal, a well taken volley from Lisa Jones hitting the top of the net.
So the dream comeback wasn’t to be and the ref blew to call time on the Blues torture, a crucial 3 points lost.
Daventry are a team that rely on their home form and after the Blues beat them 6-0 at Grange park they made the mistake of becoming complacent and over confident against a good side.
It was a poor first half performance but in the second half the ladies showed signs of their early form and character to get back into the game.
The good news, the ladies have been granted a reprieve as league leaders Hinckley lost so promotion is still on the cards, if they win every game, a tough task but if they can rekindle their earlier form it shouldn’t be a problem.
