WOMENS REPORT | Chester 3-1 Salford City Lionesses

Chester FC Women’s manager Martin Fitzsimons was full of praise for his side following the 3-1 win against Salford City Lionesses on Sunday.

Goals from Sarah Gill, Ashleigh Bullock and Sarah Redman secured maximum points for the Blues at Ellesmere Port Sports Village and inflicted a first ever league defeat on Salford.

Having been left frustrated with a 1-1 draw at Altrincham in the previous week, Fitzsimons was delighted with the response from his players.

He said: “Overall we can’t speak highly enough of the players and every single one of them knew what they had to do.

“You can have whatever game plan you want as a coach or manager but ultimately it’s down to the players to carry it out and the whole squad bought into that and delivered it to the letter.

“Salford threw a couple of surprises at us and we took all of them in our stride. All of the players played their role from the goalkeeper to the substitutes coming on and making an impact and changing the course of the game.”

Salford dominated possession in the first-half with Ana Duran pulling off several good saves in the Chester goal to keep the scores level.

The Blues, who lost both Katie Priest and Rebecca Webb to injury during the game, then fell behind as the visitors’ pressure told but Fitzsimons was delighted with the response from his team.

Gill finished smartly from a Rachel Lever cross to make the score at 1-1 at the interval and Chester sealed the victory in the second period as first Bullock combined well with substitute Amy Broomhead and then another replacement made it 3-1 as Redman powered in a header from an Izzy Crooks delivery.

Fitzsimons said: “The reaction from the team to going behind was superb. We remained composed and stuck to the game plan.

“We went into the match with a determination to right the wrongs of the previous game with Atrincham and we knew it would be a tough challenge with Salford never having lost a league game.

“We had a few selection problems and the 11 players starting knew they had to perform and that’s exactly what they did.

“It was a very good three points and we’re pleased to say the injuries to KP and Bex don’t look as bad as first feared so hopefully they should be back in action soon rather than later.”

Elsewhere Chester FC Women’s U18s made it two wins from two at the weekend with a comfortable 4-0 success against Sandbach United at The Cheshire County Sports Club.

Ellie Kent bagged a brace for the Blues with Liv Forster and an own goal wrapping up the points for Ben Richards’ side.

FEATURE PIC: Alison Greenwood.