Belper Town ladies are beaten in season-opener

Fresh off the back of a wonderful performance and result last weekend in the FA Cup, Dom Anderson immediately had selection issues with three centre halves unavailable. Following a reshuffle, striker and last season's top scorer Alice Faulding deputised and produced a top class defensive performance.

Sherwood started brightly and opened the scoring on two minutes when Hollie Dalling chased a charged down clearance and ran on to finish nicely past Hannah Whysall.

Belper were awarded a free kick on eight minutes for a foul just outside the box, Hollie Thompson's effort was just over the bar.

The hosts doubled their lead in the 14th minute when Belper were unable to clear a cross from Polly Lees-Collier; Katie Fish was on hand to slot home.

It was three within a couple of minutes when a long ball found Fish who broke the Belper defensive line and rifled home from 25 yards.

A loose back pass by Sherwood on 19 minutes led to a chance for Sky Hughes but her shot was saved by Chloe Hague-Naylor.

In the 28th minute a cross from Dalling found Jemma Crampton who saw efforts with her head and right foot both crash back off the post within a matter of seconds!

Belper improved towards the end of the half and on 39 minutes an India Amans cross found Hughes who saw her shot blocked following a good move.

Right on the stroke of half time, a long ball found Abi Bancroft but from a tight angle her shot found the side netting.

The Nailers picked up where they left off following the break and within seconds of the restart Amans once again produced a great cross and Hughes challenged the goalkeeper who managed to clear.

A Belper goal had been coming and it arrived in the 48th minute. A great through ball from Macie White found Bancroft who coolly rounded Hague-Naylor before slotting home to reduce the arrears.

They were nearly within one goal moments later when a cross to the back post saw Amans and Hughes combine but the final shot was wide.

The 56th minute saw Macie White pick up possession and after her first shot was blocked the follow-up was just over the bar.

In the 61st minute Sherwood relieved some of the pressure with a good spell of their own and Faye Wheatley should have made it 4-1. Whysall came out to narrow the angle and the shot was wide.

Five minutes later Belper half cleared a Sherwood attack and eventually the ball came to Tiffany Elliott who beat the offside trap but shot wide.

A Thompson corner in the 79th minute found the head of Freya Wilson who headed narrowly wide, before Bancroft saw a chance go begging on 81 minutes.

Manager Dom Anderson said: "It's a bitter sweet one today, on one hand you don't want to see your team lose 3-1, especially because it would have been very different if we had some regular centre backs.

"That said our second half performance was very good with quality from Alice standing in at centre back and Freya pulling the strings and creating in the middle. It was also good to see Abi get off the mark in the league with a trademark goal."