Esme Kilburn-Thompson continued her fine goal scoring form with the only goal of the game to give Torquay United Women a 1-0 victory against Forest Green Rovers on Sunday afternoon.
Manager Grant Fisher gave a debut to Rebecca McMullin in the centre of midfield, and welcomed back captain Emma Hunt and top scorer Ellie Bishop, however Fisher didn’t have the services of centre back Alex Sheppard for this fixture.
Kilburn-Thompson’s seventh goal of the season came inside the opening 5 minutes, when the forward linked up well with Beth Everson on the edge of the box, before beating the defender and slotting the ball low into the left-hand corner of the visitors’ net from 12 yards.
Defending into very strong wind in the first half, The Gulls found it hard to really impose any kind of domination onto the game and could only create a couple of half-chances inside the opening quarter.
United should have been two up in the 22nd minute, when a through ball by Tracey Cross found Kilburn-Thompson running through on goal, but the usual cool finish eluded the striker for once, as her shot went wide of the goal.
That miss could have been very costly to the home side, as Forest Green came more into the match in the final ten minutes of the half, creating two great opportunities to go in at the break level, the closest of which crashed against the bar following a corner from the right.
The second half was very much a mirror of the first, with United having most of the possession and creating the best opportunities to strengthen their lead.
Substitute Bishop saw her shot loop just over on the hour, before the winger hit the side netting from a tight angle five minutes later. A strong run down the right from Everson saw another chance for Kilburn-Thompson on 70 minutes, before a goalmouth scramble inside the six-yard box in the 80th minute couldn’t be turned in by either Cross or Danni Wyatt, who replaced Brooks mid-way through the half.
With only one goal in it, there was always a chance for the visitors to get back level and that opportunity came inside the final 10 minutes when a break on the left saw the ball find the Forest Green striker unmarked, but her shot from the edge of the area narrowly went over the bar.
“As a spectacle, the game wasn’t great, but the conditions played a massive part in that for both sides.
”We will take the win and the 3 points and move onto another tough game next week,” said Fisher.
The win keeps The Gulls challenging for promotion with another home game against Royal Wootton Bassett Town Ladies at Stoke Gabriel’s ground next Sunday, kick off 2pm.
United’s Development team also came away with a 5-3 win against Signal Box in the Women’s Devon League on Sunday. Torquay’s goals came via Harriet Bowring (2) Hannah Rooney, Abi Scandrett and Leanne Robins.