Plymouth Uni 2,

KS Cougars 1

Travelling to Plymouth last Saturday in their second Prem 2B fixture of the season, KS lined up against a young Uni side.

The Cougars struggled through the first half against a Uni side that moved with and off the ball far ­better than the Kingsbridge side ­during the opening exchanges, making good use of give-and-go passing to overload the Cougars’ midfield.

Keeper Erin Murgatroyd was on fine form again to control her D and make several key saves to deny Uni during the first half, backing up her defence and keeping KS in the fight.

Despite their slick passing early on, Uni only came in at half time with a one-goal lead thanks to resolute defending from Fi Wadey and Rachel Roberts, who dominated in their defensive roles against the excellent movement from the Uni forwards.

Adjusting their formation and focus, KS hit back in the second half to deliver a much more evenly matched game.

Pairing Lou Read and Bex Darke in the middle denied Uni the passing channels they had exploited in the first half.

With Sarah Budgen and Fern Tucker playing either side of the midfield maestros, KS began to ­contest the centre and turn over the Uni possession more frequently.

With the game playing end to end, Uni extended their lead with a nice crossover move down the left to find the spare player on the overlap to score.

Pressing well on their left, KS soon retook possession as vice-captain Helen Symons ghosted through two tackles before scanning ahead to connect with captain Chloe Harvey and deliver a killer pass through the 25 to split the covering Uni defenders.

Driving round the outside of her marker, Harvey piled in on goal and remained calm to slot home with a trademark stick-and-ball finish to keep KS in the game and put her name on the scoresheet for her birthday.

With a more flexible structure up front, Sophie Claughton was working hard into space and creating some great channels behind her marker.

The more open structure between the forwards created some great opportunities. Laura Kerly was unlucky not to pull KS level with a stunning run into space and a clipped shot, which beat the Uni keeper but flew just outside the far post. Abi Bell topped off a great ­performance rolling through the ­forward line and came close to scoring from a loose ball at the near post.

The Cougars held the upper hand for the second half to create solid chances in front of the Uni goal and certainly did enough in the second half to feel frustrated at not securing a point from the match.

The final whistle blew on a 2-1 loss for the Kingsbridge side, with the Cougars delivering all of the closing pressure.

Overall a tough game for KS, who did well to readjust and think their way through to a competitive second half after a fraught first period.

Woman of the match went to Lou Read for a great performance ­steadying the middle, while the coach’s player accolade went to Gemma Harvey for a dynamic match and great spells through the halfs.

Better news for the club came on Sunday when playing their first Plymouth District Friendly League match against a different Plymouth Uni: the newly formed KS Cougars IIs delivered a resounding 14-1 ­victory, with goals from Charlotte Budgen (four), Heather Mockridge (three), Katie Merrin (two), Cara Yeoman (two), Lauren Darbyshire (one), Ella Thompson (one) and Anna McCabe (one).