Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
IMPRESSIVE Arsenal Ladies have the five factor and are sending shivers down the spines of their rivals in the GulfWeekly-sponsored Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain Ladies League.
The Gooner girls destroyed last year’s champions Venus 5-0 and they have now scored five goals in each of their league matches this season.
While Venus battled hard and had some early chances, they conceded three first half goals from Lucy Hogg and Sam Rule, who has now got the enviable record of played three and scored in three for her new team, and a determined strike by Reema Al Qassab.
Despite efforts to pull the game back in the second half, with strong performances from Fatima Al Dashti and Tala al Bashimi amongst others, Reema completed her hat-trick with a brace of goals, both from corners, one of which was a brilliant header which gave Dana Noor in the Venus goal no chance.
In the second match, Seef Dental were up against the Saudi girls, Eastern Flames. In another close, competitive affair, the Flames ran out winners by the odd goal in five. An early Amy Goodwright strike and a Leah Montenegro goal right on the half-time break, countered by a Molly Bednarowski effort saw the Dental darlings trail 2-1 at half time.
Despite their efforts to equalise, another Montenegro goal gave the Flames a two goal cushion, which they badly needed as Terry Stevens scored again for Seef Dental, giving them the chance to draw level but were not able to do so.
In the third game, played on Thursday, unbeaten teams Joga Tfa and Arsenal U21 took on each other in what turned out to be a very even and well contested affair. Two goals, one in each half from Alaa Al Dirazi settled the game 2-0 in favour of Joga, but only some good defending stopped the youngsters from scoring. Arsenal director, Paul Shipwright, said: “We were so proud of our young team. It is probably the best match that they have ever played together and their performance proved that they don’t need ‘senior’ players to help them any more.”
Next week the young team will be looking to keep up their progress against Venus, whilst the top two teams in the league face each other in a vital game when Joga play the Arsenal Ladies.
