Page 30 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.32 2021-22

Fourth time lucky for Pagham

Sunday April 10th saw Pagham Ladies claim the Sussex County Women’s League Premier
Division title as they battled hard in a tense 1-0 victory away to Seaford Town. It was an exciting
penultimate fixture to the ladies’ league campaign, which saw them finish the season with a 7-0
away to Eastbourne Town in a game which was played in calmer circumstances, and meant that
Pagham had won every game away from home this season.
Having finished 3rd, 3rd and 4th over the previous three seasons, manager Rhys Griffiths
began the year aiming as high as possible and stating that the ladies would win the league this
season, a statement he had made almost every season since he started with the club back in 2018.
The season started well, a 5-0 victory away to Worthing Town was a great start for the
ladies. The second game of the season, in very windy conditions, saw the ladies lose their only
league game of the season to title contenders Montpelier Villa. Pagham saw themselves go 3-0
down at home by half time, with the wind heavily dictating the way the game flowed. The second
half saw Pagham claw themselves back to 3-3 with 35 minutes of hard work, only to concede two
goals to the visitors in quick succession to lose the game 5-3. Following this result, Pagham
kicked on, breaking a club record in the process as they went on to win eight competitive games
in a row. The eighthth victory was possibly the biggest result of the season.
Following the Christmas break, Pagham began 2022 with an away fixture to then top of the
table, Montpelier Villa. Pagham had to hold out against heavy pressure from the hosts, with
goalkeeper Georgia Selby (a central midfielder naturally who volunteered to play in goal at the
beginning of the season) making a number of key saves within the game. Despite going down
just before half time following some very good wide play leading to a shot inside the box being
just too much for Selby to keep out, Pagham saw the club’s top overall goalscorer, Georgina
Starkey, step up and equalise right on half time with a delightful volley powerfully flying over
the retreating goalkeeper following a poor clearance.
The second half became very end to end, with everything to gain, as the winner would be
most likely to win the league, and Montpelier Villa having played far more games than Pagham.
Montpelier Villa went ahead first as they saw a good strike from just on the outside of the box
and was just too much for the goalkeeper. Pagham responded threw Gemma Yates, who
currently has the most assists for the club (12) this season. A ball from Jade Widdowson got
Yates through, and she curled it around the goalkeeper. The moment of the season, and possibly
ever in the history of Pagham Ladies, came in the 92nd minute. A Pagham corner was cleared
by the Montpelier Villa defence, but only for the ball to roll to around 30 yards out. Club captain
Gemma Halford, came bombing forward from the half way line and was left with no choice but
to strike the ball. The ball was struck sweetly as it rocketed to the Montpelier Villa goal, creeping
just under the bar to put Pagham in the lead, with a small invasion on the pitch of substitutes
and coaching staff to hug the centre back following her goal.
Pagham kicked on in the league, conceding just one goal and scoring 22 times in the
remaining six league games (that were played, 2 games were given as walkover victories due to
the side being unable to field teams). Winning the league has been an outstanding achievement
for a club which was started so that a group of friends could play football together in a
competitive league by club chairwoman, Lauren Osborne. The side has come on leaps and
bounds since it’s initial creation, seeing 6 of the current playing squad being involved in the
inaugural season of Pagham Ladies back in 2016. Some key statistics has seen one of the
inaugural players, Emma Biffi, look as though she will end as the league’s top scorer with 26
goals so far. The club have also kept a club record 11 clean sheets this season as well with some
outstanding defending over the season.
Pagham still have a competitive fixture, as they face second place Montpelier Villa at
Pagham Football Club, Nyetimber Lane on Sunday 15th May in the SCWGFL League Cup,
hoping to get to the final and earn a second trophy of the season.
Issue no. 32 - 28 April 2022 news@womenssoccerscene.co.uk