Argyle Community Trust ARGYLE Ladies boss Dave Leonard can breathe a sigh of relief as his team got back to winning ways by renewing their challenge for the Premier League South West Division One title.
On a bitterly cold afternoon, Argyle tore into their hosts and within two minutes they were in front. The ball was worked down the left by Amber Pollock and her cross fell to Natasha Knapman who turned sharply from 12 yards out to fire the ball past the goalkeeper for her 20th goal of the season.
Argyle kept up the pressure but were unlucky not to increase their lead when 15 minutes later Knapman's effort was ruled out for offside. Once again, a harsh offside decision 10 minutes after that denied Tori Marks.
Undeterred, Argyle pushed on by continuing to dominate the game and five minutes before half time, the Pilgrims doubled their advantage. Pressing a poor goal kick which was nodded back towards the goal, where the alert Marks pounced on the ball and calmly placed her shot under the advancing goalkeeper.
In the second half, Larkhall finally applied some pressure and eight minutes in they were unlucky not to get back into the game when a header from a corner on the right bounced off the crossbar and was cleared by the Argyle defence.
Argyle responded well and only a great last ditch tackle denied Marks a chance to increase the lead when she beat the offside and looked certain to score. The lively Marks wasn't to be denied when, on 58 minutes, she scored the goal of the game.
The rapid striker was played in on the right hand side of the goal and with a defender closing her down she had the presence of mind to produce a stunning lob over the goalkeeper into the far corner of the net. It was nothing more than her performance deserved.
Argyle’s relentless pressure was rewarded 15 minutes from time with another beauty, this time from Ebony Dover. Argyle were awarded a free kick 22 yards out after substitute Lane was brought down. Dover stepped up and placed a delightful right foot shot over the wall and into the top left hand corner of the net. Argyle then made their final change with Mollie Taylor coming on for Knapman with 12 minutes remaining to see out what proved to be a comfortable victory.
With manager Dave Leonard away on England duty at the SW Regional Training Camp, it was left to Assistant Travis Rowland to take the team and he commented afterwards: “The girls have been working so hard in training over the last couple of weeks and have been desperate to put in a performance that shows how good they really are and how our last performance (against Buckland) was just an anomaly.
“They have all worked their socks off for one another and they have ran Larkhall into the ground. It is hard to pick out our best player because there genuinely were too many candidates. There is the buzz back in the dressing room and we can't wait to attack the second half of the season.”
Argyle squad: Michaela Phillips, Jessie Boston, Rachel Javan, Dani Barr, Katie Middleton, Ebony Dover, Ezme Wells, Kayleigh Brown (Kayley Lane 69), Natasha Knapman (Mollie Taylor 78), Tori Marks, Amber Pollock (Gabi Alphous 78).
