Team Sunderland Women’s Football produce “excellent” Clash of the Minsters performance

A scintillating 90 minutes which seldom allowed a chance for spectators to take their eye off the action saw Team Sunderland Women’s Football win a nine-goal thriller at the Clash of the Minsters.

Starting the game with only 10 players on the pitch due to a last-minute squad shortage, Sunderland had an uphill battle from the off as they played York St. John in the annual varsity event – a challenge that would increase they trailed by two in the first half.

A Megan Sprot hat-trick played no small part in keeping the fixture competitive, but it was Courtney Mole who kept her cool from 12-yards to give the Wearsiders a 5-4 lead in the dying stages to earn a win much to the delight of coach Gary Bennett.

“An excellent game, and a fantastic game to watch,” said the former Sunderland defender. “Two good teams, and the girls did especially well with only having 10 on the pitch.

“(Pre-match) I said as long as they kept their shape and were disciplined, we are a good footballing team and we have some good footballing players who can handle the ball. If we can keep a hold of the ball and control the game then we have a good chance.

“The first half was about adjusting really, when you’ve got 10 players. Lucy (Ferreira), who was playing in goal, is not really an out-and-out goalkeeper so she’s done a fantastic job for us. Even though we were 2-0 down, we fancied ourselves and knew if we scored one we could go on and get ourselves back into the game and go on and win it.”