Glenfield Rovers returned to winning ways in the Lotto Northern Premier Women's League on May 19, but the reigning champions were fight all the way for their 3-1 Keith Hay Park win over a Three Kings United side whose performance isn't accurately reflected by the final score. The home team will feel miffed that they didn't take at least a point from this match, and possibly all three - they certainly had chances aplenty to do so, but failed to take them and ultimately paid the price for failing to find the target more often than they did. United first threatened in the third minute of play, with Tessa Leong getting the better of both Tessa Berger and Estelle Harrison on the right-hand edge of the Rovers penalty area before whipping a low cross across the six-yard box which was begging to be turned home by a teal-shirted team-mate, if only one had been there. Straight away, Glenfield counter-attacked, Liz Savage feeding Harrison, who played the ball inside to Helena Kelderman. She took on then jinked inside Caitlin Pritchard before spotting the slightest of gaps between Rivalina Fuimaono and her near post … guess where the ball went, straight as an arrow! Lethal! 1-0 Rovers after four minutes. Three Kings didn't take long to bounce back from this early setback, Rebecca Burrows' angled cross-shot being saved at the second attempt by Ashleigh Cox, the ball having squeezed through her legs first time round. Those same legs blocked Leong's attempt to score in the tenth minute, the striker having been played through the inside left channel by Burrows. Leong was frustrated with herself for spurning that chance, and channeled it into her next shot, which flew over the bar upon receipt of Petra Buyck's pass. Buyck was the next United player to threaten, in the fourteenth minute. Alosi Bloomfield's delicious pass played her through the offside trap, and the youngster - who was to succumb to a knee injury on the half-hour - promptly curled a shot around Cox but just past the far post. Back came Glenfield, Savage surging out of defence before linking with Kate Loye, whose beautifully weighted through ball sent Kelderman careering through again. She rounded the approaching figure of Fuimaono but was forced wide in doing so, and in attempting to hook the ball goalwards tweaked her hamstring. Off she limped moments later, but not before Fuimaono had gifted possession to Savage, who worked a triangle with Dayna Stevens and Loye before lashing a twenty-five yarder narrowly over the bar. Three Kings promptly stormed back upfield, a defensive mishap letting in Leong, who somehow steered the ball wide of the target with Cox stranded. The usually reliable striker was having one of those days where nothing she tried was coming off, and the harder she tried to rectify matters … every player has them. You just don't want them to happen in the big games, such as this one. In the 24th minute, Glenfield were awarded a free-kick, which Harrison hoisted into the area. It was headed out to Sydney Bultitude, who lobbed the ball back into the danger zone. Fuimaono came out to grab it, but was beaten to the sphere by Savage, whose header arced over the approaching 'keeper but also over the bar, albeit only just! From the resulting goal kick, Burrows and Jessie Mathews combined to play in Buyck on the left, from where she proceeded to evade two challenges before drawing a solid save from Cox at her near post. When Buyck next threatened, she went into a tackle on the edge of Glenfield's penalty area and didn't get up again. She eventually hobbled off, but her departure took a bit of the sting out of the contest for a few minutes, at least until Savage's 42nd minute run was concluded in unceremonious fashion by Maisy Dewell. Unfortunately for the winger, she was tracking back at the time, and Savage was in the penalty area. Referee Will Roberts - he and his team had an outstanding match, probably making just one errant decision over its duration - didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot, from where Stevens sent Fuimaono the wrong way. The 2-0 scoreline was very harsh on Three Kings, who looked to pull one back before half-time. Bloomfield and Burrows linked with Mathews, whose steepling thirty yard lob was grabbed under her crossbar by Cox.

She instantly launched a counter-attack which culminated in Stevens firing the last shot of a highly entertaining half of football narrowly past the post. Rest assured there was plenty more where this came from in the second spell. United came out intent on reducing the deficit early doors, and in the 51st minute came desperately close to doing so. Burrows spread play wide to substitute Ella Russ, who got the better of Laney Strachan before whipping in a cross which deflected off the fullback. This made it awkward for Cox to deal with, and with good reason, the ball hitting the crossbar from an acute angle. No one in a teal shirt was following in, allowing Berger to scramble the ball to safety. After Emma Leaming had cleared the danger posed by Loye's beautifully weighted through ball for substitute Emma Turnbull, Savage sent Kelderman's replacement dashing through the inside right channel before racing up in support of the striker. Turnbull got to the edge of the penalty area before slipping a pass inside to the hard-charging midfielder, who got the better of Pritchard only to be denied in the act of shooting by a quite superb goal-saving tackle from Shivi Anthony - a terrific piece of defending. Jess Philpott is back home from her US university for the summer break, and this was her first appearance of the season for Three Kings. On the hour, she pinged a lovely ball over the top for Russ to hurtle after, outpacing Shania McIntosh in the process. Although the fullback nipped back at her opponent, Russ stayed on her feet - she could just as easily have gone down - and thrashed a shot towards the target. Cox saved it, and was well positioned soon afterwards to prevent Bloomfield from capping off a move featuring Russ, Leong and Burrows in the manner the midfielder desired. United had the ball in the net in the 64th minute, only for Leong's strike to be ruled out because Russ had pulled the ball back from beyond the by-line. Straight away, Glenfield counter-attacked, Savage threading the needle with a pass which sent Turnbull through with just Fuimaono to beat. The 'keeper blocked well on this occasion, and after Harrison had sent a twenty yarder sizzling over the bar following a cleared Loye corner, United's custodian raced off her line to save at the feet of Savage, at the sharp end of Rovers' captain's driving run through the inside left channel. When Savage next set off on a run for goal, in the 72nd minute, it was an off-the-ball raid made while the ball was McIntosh, Turnbull, Loye and Stevens were exchanging passes. The last-mentioned's lay-off sent Savage surging through, and she rode Anthony's tackle before steering the ball past the advancing figure of Fuimaono and just inside the upright - 3-0. To say that was harsh on Three Kings is the understatement of the month. There was no way they were three goals worse off than the title-holders in this tussle, but the scoreboard read otherwise. So they set about reducing the deficit straight from the kick-off. Leong led the charge down the right and duly let fly, drawing a flying save from Cox. The ball spun across the area and dropped kindly for Bloomfield, who looked odds on to pull one back for the home team. But Cox had other ideas, and completed a breathtaking double-save in fine style, smothering the ball on the line. With seven minutes remaining, however, Three Kings again, and this time they gained long overdue reward for their performance, by way of a consolation goal. Leaming played the ball forward towards Leong, only for Bultitude to step in. But her back-pass fell short of its intended target, allowing Bloomfield to latch onto the ball and round the stranded figure of Cox before rifling the ball into the untended net to wrap up the scoring in a highly entertaining encounter from which United deserved at least a share of the spoils. It was Glenfield who took their chances, however, and emerged 3-1 victors as a result. Three Kings:     Fuimaono; Anthony, Pritchard (Martin, 76), Philpott, Leaming; Burrows, Mathews, Bloomfield; Dewell, Leong, Buyck (Russ, 30) Glenfield:     Cox; McIntosh (Jung, 76), Bultitude, Berger, Strachan; Savage, Oosterhof, Loye; Kelderman (Turnbull, 21), Stevens (Donnelly, 88), Harrison Referee:     Will Roberts