Wildcats sunk by late penalty

Somerset County Women’s League division one: Wells City Ladies 2, Wellington Wildcats Ladies 1

An injury-time penalty denied our Wildcats a deserved point at Wells yesterday (Sunday, October 13th).

Wildcats were quick to start and only an excellent save from the home keeper prevented Ebony Sellick from opening the scoring in the first minute. This followed superb one-two with Georgia Purdy.

Wildcats had the better of the next 15 minutes but were unable to work the keeper.  However, they felt they should have had a couple of penalties when both Sellick and Jess Regan were brought down in the box.

As Wells gained momentum, Wildcats had to rely on the excellent defending of Bryony Sellick alongside Emily Ayers and Tenika Goss to keep them out while Bianca Hamlyn made a superb save to keep the scores level.

Wildcats’ vulnerability at corners was again highlighted as Wells went ahead on 38 minutes. Hamlyn cleared the initial ball into the box despite heavy contact from the home striker, but Wells were first to react to the clearance to hit home from the edge of the box with the ball just dipping under the crossbar.

Wildcats’ leveller came right at the start of the second half, Ebony Sellick racing on to a through ball from Goss to slot under the onrushing keeper.

Shortly after, Regan was again felled in the box, this time being pushed into the keeper from a defender. this caused a five-minute stoppage while the keeper received treatment.

Following the break-in play, Keeley Coates and Robyn Stockman had individual runs but were unable to make the final telling pass into Sellick.

With Wells gaining in confidence as the half progressed the game became end to end, without either keeper being called into action.

The deadlock was finally broken in the first minute of added time when Wells regained the lead from the penalty spot after the referee judged a Wildcats arm to be in an unnatural position.

As Wildcats pushed for a second equaliser Wells conceded a number of free-kicks, including a two-footed lunge on Wildcats captain Grace Winter, which saw the Wells player escape with only a yellow card.

Wildcats’ player-of-the-day, sponsored by Mundy Veneer Ltd, was Bryony Sellick

Wildcats will be looking to return to winning ways on Sunday when they entertain bottom-of-the-table Weston-super-Mare Reserves at the Playing Field, ko 2pm.

Team: Bianca Hamlyn, Bryony Sellick, Emily Ayers, Tenika Goss, Grace Winter, Grayson Kennard, Georgia Purdy, Charlotte Ayers, Robyn Stockman, Keeley Coates, Ebony Sellick.  Substitutes: Jess Regan, Imogen Edmondston-Low, Chloe Payne, Christina Seaborne (all used).