Brentford Women were beaten 3-2 on the final day of the 2022/23 campaign following a late Watford Ladies Development goal with the result ensuring the Bees finish second place in the LSE Regional Women’s Football League Division One North.
Brentford fought back from a goal down to go into the interval with a 2-1 lead courtesy of strikes from Nikki Woods and Chloe Logie but two second half goals from Watford Development saw the hosts gain the three points.
The women’s first team came into the final game of the season needing to win but also to rely on Dulwich Hamlet Reserves to take points from Dorking Wanderers in their game.
It was a quick start from the Bees who nearly got themselves ahead after Woods came close when she attempted to lob the Watford Development keeper but her effort went just over the bar.
Emily Boycott was called into action on 10 minutes when Watford’s Rebecca Lovelace broke through the visitor's defence but the forward’s shot was saved well by Brentford’s number one.
Lovelace wasn’t to be denied a few moments later though, as she found a way through the Brentford defence again before taking the ball around Boycott and slotting into an empty net.
Brentford reacted well and nearly found an equaliser on 21 minutes but Logie’s side-footed effort from just inside the box could only find the side netting.
Freya Worsley
Logie’s movement was stretching the Watford back line leading to Brentford’s equaliser just after the half-hour mark when the forward was brought down 25 yards from goal.
Wood’s, previously known as Saunders, stood over the free-kick and hit the perfect shot with the ball flying over Tia Green and finding the top corner.
The Bees were playing with confidence following the equaliser and got themselves ahead on 39 minutes after an excellent finish from Logie.
The league’s top scorer ran onto a neat pass from Chloe Webb and showed brilliant composure to slot the ball around Green to find the bottom right corner.
Brentford Women celebrate Logie's goal
The tempo of the match became slower in the second half as the away team retained the ball in hopes of seeing out their lead.
The first 20 minutes of the second half saw very few chances for either side, it wasn’t until after the hour mark when Watford threatened the Brentford goal.
Lovelace got around Afiya Johnson on the left flank and attempted to sneak the ball in at the near post but her shot from close range smashed into the side netting.
After a lacklustre second half from both sides, Watford got themselves level on 77 minutes when substitute Lola Meyer dispossessed Lily Dalton before tucking the ball past Boycott inside the box.
Just five minutes later the hosts got themselves in front when substitute Natalie Cloy’s strike from long-range deflected off Boycott before landing in the back of the net.
Brentford flooded on the pressure in the final minutes of the game but didn’t manage to create any real goal-scoring opportunities.
The defeat didn’t mean much in terms of the league standings with Dorking winning their match against Dulwich meaning Brentford finished second place in the league.
Karleigh Osborne’s thoughts
Women’s first team head coach Karleigh Osborne was left disappointed with the result on the final day of the season but remained in high spirits after what has been a campaign with plenty of positive memories.
Speaking on the loss, Osborne said: “Firstly I’d like to say congratulations to Dorking for winning the league but in regards to our performance I’m disappointed with how we have finished this season. It would have been nice to have gone out with a win and a good performance but too many of us were off the pace.”
An early opener from Watford left the Bees with a job on their hands but they fought back when Woods scored a spectacular free-kick and Logie slotted home taking the forward to 36 goals for the season.
The two strikes saw Osborne’s side go into the break level, the head coach explained how happy he was with his team after getting themselves ahead.
He said: “I was pleased with how we recovered, I thought we shouldn’t be putting ourselves in that position anyway but Nikki scored and Chloe gets a great finish but we came out in the second half and started to slow which gave Watford the momentum.”
Despite being beaten to the league title by Dorking the Bees have had some amazing moments this season including the historic game at the Gtech Community Stadium and breaking the Bedfont Sports Club attendance record for the second year running.
“There is loads of be proud of this season, the girls have gone all the way to the final day and taking it right to the wire, which we can be super proud of. As a whole the girls have been magnificent in terms of what they have produced this season so they deserve a lot of credit and now it’s just about preparing for next year,” said Osborne.