Brentford FC Women’s First Team suffered a 2-1 defeat to Hackney Ladies, who came from a goal behind to claim all three points. Two quickfire second half goals from Hackney cancelled out any momentum The Bees had, as the home side struggled to create anything of note in the second 45. Head Coach Karleigh Osborne was disappointed with his side's second half performance and felt Hackney took full advantage after the break.
Karleigh said: “I think we just switched off and got caught cold as we didn’t seem ready to start the game again mentally. Hackney have capitalised on that and we know that the performance in the second half was poor."
Around 25 minutes in, Brentford produced the first real piece of quality in the game and it resulted in the opener. Rebekah Edwards won the ball high up on the left wing and then drove infield, the winger then timed the through ball perfectly to Georgia Harris, who slotted underneath the onrushing keeper.
Just 10 minutes into the second half and Hackney found their equaliser. Stacey Bishopp in the Brentford goal was closed down quickly and lost possession inside her own box. The forward then kept her composure to setup a teammate in a better position who curled the ball into a vacated net.
The away side took the lead about five minutes later, completely flipping the game on its head. Their striker again made a nuisence of herself and didn’t give up a loose ball in the box. Again, she had the presence of mind to pick out a teammate with a low driven cross and the right winger took one touch and smashed home.
Hackney were inches away from making it three straight from a free kick on the right, their number 10 drilled the ball over Bishopp in goal and the ball crashed against the post.
The Bees will be looking for an instant response next week and Karleigh has called for his players to prove their worth to the team.
He said: “I’ll be looking for us to bounce back and be on it at training. People need to put in performances and provide something in training for me to see what team I put out there on Sunday.”