It was a battle of the Women's Super League's newest teams, and it was Launceston United that continued their winning start to the season with a 3-2 win over the Devonport Strikers at Valley Road. Three first-half goals put United in the box seat, but they had to overcome a furious Devonport comeback to claim all three points.
It took less than three minutes for the visitors to take the lead, with an early corner giving them a chance to catch the Strikers napping. A high delivery to the near post drew a crowd of defenders, but Launceston's Madison Gilpin read the ball best and snuck in behind them all to get her head onto it first. Her effort looped goalward and into the woodwork but still found its way over the line.
The hosts looked shell-shocked after conceding so early, and things only got worse as they gave up a second goal inside the opening ten minutes. A loose ball fell to United's Danielle Gunton just inside the penalty area, and while her first attempt was blocked by the defender, she recovered quickly to re-take possession, skip past her marker and finish well into the bottom corner. It was a dream start for the ladder leaders, and it left Devonport with a mountain to climb to even get back into the contest.
Finally settled after that frenetic start, the Strikers did begin to claw their way back and had the better of the play in the immediate aftermath. Jasmin White had a chance to pull one goal back after being played in behind the defence, but United goalkeeper Imogen Mccormick was able to save well after advancing off her line. A comeback looked to be on the cards, but Launceston quickly put any such thoughts on the backburner by scoring their third against the run of play. Again it was Gunton doing the damage, this time with a 30-yard rocket that screamed over the goalkeeper's head and into the top corner.
The Strikers continued to press right up until the half-time whistle, and they were just centimetres from scoring when a Renske Rombout free kick thumped into the underside of the crossbar but stayed out. That saw the score remain at 3-0 as the half-time whistle sounded, and Strikers coach Mal Gorrie would have been left scratching his head after plenty of positive play for his side. For United, the lead was reward for a typically robust defensive display from a side that stifled every opponent in the Northern Championship last season.
They looked to have added a fourth just after the restart when Amy Littlechild shot into an open net. The net was only so open, though, because of a shot to the head of Strikers goalkeeper Georgia Anderson. With the onus on referees to stop play with any chance of a head injury, and rightfully so, play was restarted from the site of the head knock and the goal was disallowed. Even with that disappointment fresh, United looked set to run the clock out strongly as they maintained possession and controlled the pace of the game.
As was proven in the first half, though, goals can always come against the grain. This time it was the Strikers pushing against the tide, scrapping to advance the ball down their byline on the left. Eventually Annalee Bidwell found space to cut the ball back across the area, where it was met by a tidy finish from Tiela Weeda. That left Devonport with 20 minutes to pull back two goals, and they found one in the 83rd minute to keep the game well and truly alive. A thumping kick from the backline by Anderson bounced in empty space and over the top of the Launceston defence, leaving Jazmin White to run on for a simple one-on-one finish.
As the Strikers pushed for an equaliser, United very nearly pounced for their fourth goal to kill off the contest when Jessica Robinson's shot was cleared off the goal-line with a late lunge from Melanie Quick. From there the visitors sat deep and defended grimly, just trying to kill time until the final whistle. Weeda very nearly stole a point for Devonport with a long-range effort that flew just wide, but that proved to be the last kick of the game as Launceston held on for the win and moved clear on top of the table.