Doom and gloom at the Stadio de Vroom: Reading 2 LCFC Women 1 (30 October 2022)
After more than 30 years I’ve somehow found a more frustrating team to watch than Leicester City. They’re called Leicester City Women.
It’s hard to overstate just how important this game was for LCFC Women. In time-honoured fashion, manager Lydia Bedford played down how big it was. But when you’re bottom of the league, none of your players have scored and you’re playing the only other team with zero points, it’s clear there are going to be some nerves.
The thing is that for 90 minutes, there weren’t really any. Bedford’s side battled for their lives, earned the right to play, scored a fantastic goal on the counter and began to look like the more accomplished team in the second half.
Then, in true LCFC Women style, it all came crashing down. But more of that later.
Former glories
Right. I’ve sat through enough defeats across the two Leicester sides this season to deserve a humblebrag.
I used to attend a football skills school when I was about 12. At the end of each session, there would be a quiz. The coach said the name of a football ground and you’d have to say which team played there. The tricky one was always Leeds Road, then home of Huddersfield Town. But I knew them all, even Huddersfield.
However, the years have ticked by and Leicester have, ignoring the current relegation zone status, established ourselves as a Premier League team and that knowledge has now almost evaporated - mainly because most Football League teams seem to change the name of their stadium every year.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying this game was played at the Select Car Leasing Stadium and if I hadn’t known who the home team was, I’d have had to google it.
It was Reading. We were playing Reading.
A cagey opening
There were no real chances in the first ten minutes, although the home side looked the greater threat and looping efforts from Lily Woodham and Justine Vanhaevermaet both drifted just high and wide of Kirstie Levell’s top corner.
It took half an hour for Leicester to put together some good attacking play, with the tenacity of Shannon O’Brien, recalled to the first eleven, at the heart of it. Even the half-hearted penalty appeal at the end of the move was cause for optimism given how little Bedford’s side had threatened up to then.
Levell then had her right-back Erin Simon to thank after mishandling a cross. When the ball ended up at the back post, Simon’s brave defensive header cleared the danger.
Although the hosts were struggling to create clear chances, there was very little to suggest Leicester would strike first. Step forward Natasha Flint.
Tash’s lash
Flint looked a natural goalscorer in the second tier and it was something of a surprise when she failed to truly make her mark in the WSL. There are few more powerful strikers of a ball in the women’s game, as those at the Select Car Leasing Stadium found out.
O’Brien managed to wriggle away from two markers on the halfway line and played an inch-perfect through ball into the right channel. Flint still had a lot to do but she did it brilliantly, lashing a right-footed shot across Reading’s Northern Ireland international goalkeeper Jacqueline Burns into the far corner.
Leicester have laboured so much this season in attacking positions that the ball hitting the net so emphatically felt like a real shock, in a good way. In a vital game, Leicester’s number seven had announced herself on the WSL season.
Don’t let them, Pike
The visitors then set about defending the narrow lead. The second half began in more open fashion as Woodham shot over the bar following a dangerous break while, at the other end, Flint found the side netting from a narrow angle after being played in by Carrie Jones.
Despite being bottom of the table, Leicester have some really impressive players. Sam Tierney and Ashleigh Plumptre are reliable defenders who have played well in defeat this season. Midfielder Molly Pike was the standout performer here, winning the vast majority of her tackles and duels to win the midfield battle almost single-handedly. O’Brien also fought well for possession and deserves credit for her fine assist.
Despite needing a result, Reading created little as they pushed for an equaliser and Leicester looked more likely on the counter, with O’Brien heading wide from a Plumptre cross. The minutes ticked down and it finally felt like Leicester’s day.
Disasterclass
At Everton a few weeks back, the game was heading for a draw when Levell punched an innocuous long free kick into her own net well into stoppage time. Here, she punched well to send a deep free kick behind for a corner and Leicester just had to defend it and anything that followed in the final few minutes.
Of course, that’s not what happened.
Instead, Rachel Rowe’s delivery flew straight into the net with Levell claiming she was fouled at the front post. It looked a valid claim but the standard of refereeing had been hit-and-miss all afternoon and the goal was never likely to be ruled out.
At that point, the smart move would probably have been to take a point and move on. But Leicester continued to attack and found a few players ahead of the ball as Reading countered. It was too easy for Rowe to get past a couple of Leicester midfielders and unleash a shot into the far corner.
And so three precious points became the same old story - zero. It’s a cruel game, particularly for anyone who travelled to watch the game or those of us who spent successive days watching Leicester lose. After the final whistle there were the usual pleas from the LCFC Women camp to stick with them. And we will. But this was pretty tough to take.
Next up: Arsenal. See you there?
