A View from the Zak! - County Cup Final

Worthing arrived at the cup final with a reaction of sorts needed after going out of the national cup semi-final the week before. Having said that Worthing’s performance was an excellent one and they were extremely unlucky. The team talk was based around one simple quote ‘The pain of discipline is a lot less than the pain of disappointment’ and the girls were not going to let themselves leave the pitch disappointed after many of them had been involved in cup final defeat already this season.
There was a definite professional swagger about the way Worthing approached the final, all fit players were included in the squad and matched perfectly in their warm up kit. The girls were buzzing in the warm up despite being slightly put off by the opponents warm up. This cup final was about setting the standard in Sussex and showing sides why they were not far off a national final.

The game got underway and although the gulf in ability was quite clear from the start, the gulf in effort and desire was also clear. Steyning were giving 50% more to every challenge and 50/50. Worthing were struggling to get into a run and looked like they thought they had won it through the quality of the warm up. Steyning were playing an extremely high line and were pressing every Worthing touch and pass. It left the Worthing girls struggling to string more than 3 passes together and made the game scrappy. This suited the way Steyning had set out to play, and the first decent chance of the game went to Steyning. A Worthing corner was headed clear and Steyning broke out in numbers, The Worthing back four strived to get their shape back but were not supported much by their midfield. Steyning worked the break well and got their striker through on goal only for her to blast over the bar. Worthing had been let off, but they hit back with a chance of their own, when Amy Potkins was put through by Chloe Debaes only to put the ball straight at the keeper.

Then came a five minutes that maybe just took the game away from Steyning, Amy Potkins delivered a cross that took a wicked deflection off the Steyning centre half and went passed the helpless keeper and into the net. 1-0.
This spurred Worthing into life and from the centre Worthing won the ball back and a lovely bit of footwork from Jemma Kendall followed by a perfectly weighted pass found Naomi Robinson in behind the Steyning left back. Her cross went across the goal to an unmarked Chloe Debaes who poked the ball home and Worthing were two up. 2-0.

It had taken Worthing 2 minutes of their best to possibly put this game beyond Steyning. To their credit they began to fight back again before the end of the half but without really forcing a save out of Lauren Binfield. A couple of Steyning corners forced some defending out of Worthing but the half time whistle went with the score at 2-0.

The word at half time was to up the work rate and up the quality and turn the Steyning defence in behind to stop them playing so high up the field. Worthing brought on Maddy Emmerton as a replacement for struggling goal scorer Chloe Debaes. Worthing played the ball in behind a bit more but still struggled to create too much with Steyning defending well. Steyning though failed to create any chances in the second half with Binfield merely a spectator.

A few more changes were made, Chloe Lamley replaced Jemma Kendall and Emily Hale replaced Amy Potkins. But Worthing’s third goal came from a piece of individual brilliance from Lucy Somes. Somes rounded 3 players before very calmly sliding the ball passed the Steyning keeper who was rooted to the spot. 3-0.

Stacey-Leigh Johnson came on for an injured Alex Fagan, and Holly Jacklin came on for Charley Howcroft-Stemp for the last 15 minutes. The game began to fizzle out but Somes nearly repeated her third goal by again rounding 3 players before calmly sliding the ball passed the rooted keeper, only for a Steyning defender to clear the ball off the line. Maddy Emmerton also hit the post after a good bit of a work down the right hand side and Emily Hale hit a shot straight at the keeper. By this time the game was already won, and at the final whistle both teams were exhausted, but Worthing were extremely satisfied. Steyning’s work rate was very creditable and they pushed Worthing to the limit at times but Worthing had enough to crown themselves Sussex Champions for the fourth year running.

Player of the Match – Meg Cave, it had to be down to someone that Steyning’s pressure did not force Lauren to make many saves if any. Meg dealt with a handful that was playing upfront for Steyning well and was solid in all departments.

Zaki