Wednesday came into the fixture on the back of an impressive 2-1 victory over a strong Knaresborough Town side in their opening home game, and were looking to extend their unbeaten run.
The game began at a high tempo, with neither side afforded much time in possession during the opening exchanges.
Evolution created the first opportunity after winning possession high inside the Wednesday half, with their striker managing to get a shot away before being closed down… The resulting deflection earned the visitors a corner, but nothing came of it.
Wednesday soon began to build some attacking momentum of their own, and went agonisingly close to opening the scoring. Courtney Kaye raced onto a through ball and found herself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, only to see her effort come back off the post.
Despite that promising spell, it was Evolution who broke the deadlock in the 14th minute. A ball over the top released the visitors’ striker, who raced through before calmly lifting her finish over the advancing Megan Parkin.
The opener shifted the momentum in Evolution’s favour, and the away side began to apply sustained pressure to the Wednesday defence.
That pressure told in the 24th minute when another through ball from midfield opened up the Owls’ back line once again, allowing the Evolution forward to race clear and finish neatly to double the visitors’ advantage.
Wednesday struggled to regain control following the second goal, and Evolution capitalised again seven minutes later. Their number nine latched onto another through ball before finding the bottom-left corner to make it 3-0.
The Owls needed an immediate response and almost found one a minute later. Some excellent footwork from Nicole Shaw took her beyond two defenders inside the penalty area and into a shooting position, but her effort was blocked before it could trouble the goalkeeper.
Evolution remained in control, however, and added a fourth in the 39th minute. Their number nine again found space beyond the Wednesday defence before racing through and firing home.
Wednesday looked to steady themselves before the interval, and fashioned another opportunity late in the half, unfortunately the resulting effort was comfortably dealt with by the Evolution goalkeeper.
The Owls emerged for the second half with four personnel alterations, and a change of shape as they sought a response.
Thankfully the subs had an immediate impact, with Wednesday beginning the half on the front foot. Their first opportunity arrived in the 50th minute when a free-kick was delivered into the path of Kaye, though her effort found the side netting.
Three minutes later, Wednesday got themselves on the scoresheet through Amy Broomhead… A well-weighted ball over the top released Broomhead, who brought it under control before firing beyond the goalkeeper to reduce the deficit.
The goal gave the Owls renewed impetus, and Wednesday began to pose a greater attacking threat as they searched for another way back into the contest.
Jodie Gregory tried her luck on a couple of occasions, with the best of those efforts coming from her own half after spotting the Evolution goalkeeper off her line. Her ambitious strike beat the goalkeeper but crashed against the crossbar before eventually falling safely into her hands.
As the clock ran down, Wednesday made further changes in an attempt to find another breakthrough, and did create a couple of late opportunities, but weren’t able to convert.
The referee’s final whistle confirmed a 4-1 defeat and brought an end to Wednesday’s unbeaten start to the campaign… It wasn’t a performance to remember, and Keiron Lee spoke afterwards about a need for improvement.
“We’ve all got to take responsibility for that,” he said. “The team that were out there weren’t good enough. Obviously, as the coach, I set it up, and it was just a really poor performance.
“After a couple of words at half-time, you have to forget about that first half and go again in the second. We improved a little bit in the second half and we won the second half, but the plan was to win the second half by four goals. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”
The Owlesses are back in action on Sunday afternoon as they play host to York City Ladies Development at 2pm.
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