Nottingham Forest 7-0 Sporting Khalsa
by Freya Ward at The City Ground for Impetus (25/8/24).
Above: The city ground- new home of Forest women Photo: Aimee Reynolds- Impetus
Today saw Nottingham Forest Women play the first of all their Home League games in the 24/25 campaign at the City Ground. The Reds put on a show for the fans in a 7-0 win over Sporting Khalsa continuing their positive run, which they started in the opening week of the season in a 3-0 victory over Stoke City, with such a dominant performance.
Forest were the stronger side from the first kick of the ball, instantaneously putting pressure on the visitors, just five minutes into the game Khalsa’s defence was tested by an attacking run of play resulting in a goal-line scramble from the hosts- but ultimately Khalsa’s defence came out on top. The Reds continued to pile the pressure on-winning themselves the first corner of the game, but it was nothing that debutant Elise Stocking couldn’t handle from between the sticks.
This positive run of play continued into the 20th minute where Sophie Domingo broke the deadlock, slotting the ball straight past Stocking and into the back of the net. The visitor’s backline quickly turned things around though, dealing with an incredible attempt that came from linkup play between Freya Thomas and Mel Johnson just a couple of minutes later, which made doubling their lead seem almost certain for the home side. Fortunatley for the reds they did infact double their lead 10 minutes later with a Rocket of a ball plummeting straight into the back of the net from Thomas.
For the remainder of the first half the visitors managed to slow Forests momentum down keeping the scoreline at a managable 2-0 going into the second half.
Forest started the second half with serious momentum with a ball from Mel Johnson narrowly missing the post, unfortunately for Khalsa it wasn’t long before Forests tested their defence again, resulting in an own goal for Szymkowiak as she tried to cut the ball across the box, just five minutes into the half.
The home side continued to keep possession of the ball, and with plenty of opportunities being created, it took the Reds only 10 more minutes to find their next goal- centre-back Mollie Green Rocketed the ball from outside the box straight into the top right corner, almost certainly securing the three points for Forest. The home side made a triple substitution to keep their momentum – this worked wonders for the Reds with the next goal coming from Holly Manders fresh off the bench.
Charlie Wellings opened up her account for the day with Forests sixth of the afternoon, with just 10 minutes to go, although the scoreline was getting heavier for Khalsa they didn’t go down without a fight, Forest’s entire frontline all seemed to touch the ball in a scramble at an open goal but the visitors dealt with it incredibly and kept the scoreline as it was.
Capitalising on this defensive win, Khalsa managed to gain their first opportunity of the game, weaving the ball through forests defence – who were caught off guard. It seemed as though the scoreline could well and truly have a slightly more positive ending for Khalsa but the ball left Walker’s foot awkwardly and skied over the bar, the offside flag was quick to follow regardless.
Forest finished the game with one final press in the 88th minute, Bridget galloway provided an absolute masterclass on the ball, back-heeling it to Sophie Domingo who played it back to Galloway just inside the box where she was able to fire the ball into the back of the net for forests seventh and final goal of the afternoon.
Teams: NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Batty, Harkin, N.Johnson, Longhurst, Domingo, M.Johnson, Wellings, Green, Thomas, Hamilton, Chandarana. Substitutes used: Galloway, Manders, Dungate, James, Sims.
SPORTING KHALSA: Stocking, Green, Thompson-Moulding, Smith, Cann, Walker, Brett, Szymkowiak, Russell-Cartwrite, Redding, Deaville. Substitutes used: Davies, Acton, Austin-Short, Hare, Robinson.
Scorers: Domingo 18′, Thomas 30′, Szymkowiak (OG) 50′, Green 61′, Manders 69′, Wellings 77′, Galloway 88′.
Referee: Ethan Nundy
Attendance: TBC
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