Women’s Under-21s suffer defeat to Charlton Athletic

Our Women’s Under-21s were beaten 3-0 by Charlton Athletic on Wednesday afternoon in the Professional Game Academy League.

After quite an even start to the game at Hotspur Way, the Addicks took a two-goal advantage heading into half time, with the two goals coming in an eight-minute spell in the first half.

Nick Hardy’s side, which featured three Under-16s in the matchday squad, put in a brighter performance after the break and had a number of opportunities to pull a goal back, including the visitors’ goalkeeper producing an excellent save to deny Persis Oteng in the early stages of the second half.

However, despite long spells of possession as we searched for a way back into the game, Charlton wrapped up the three points with a third goal on 67 minutes after an excellent finish from the outside of the box.

Reflecting on the game, Nick said: “It was another young squad as we had a few players missing with injuries and two players away on international camps, Rania [Oukriss] with Morocco and Jhanaie [Pierre] with England. So it was a very different looking side that featured last week against Arsenal and, I think, that does play into consideration but our downfall, in the first half, was we conceded goals in quick succession and that’s mentally tough.

“We were a lot better in the second, brighter, and we had a lot more control but conceded to a very good goal from them. Overall, a tough outing, but we were really pleased with the three Under-16s, they were our brightest performers on the day.

“There’s a lot to learn from the game, we had players who were getting minutes for the first time, Persis played her first 90 minutes since last season, I was really pleased to get Blue [Arwtlett-Barrlett} back on the pitch. So, in terms of what we are getting from these games, we are getting the ability to play different players and see how the group is shaping up across the whole squad.”