Charlton Athletic Women were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw with fellow FA Women’s Championship strugglers Leicester City on Sunday.

The Addicks’ new addition Charlie Devlin netted just before the break, but her strike was later cancelled out by a thumping header from the Foxes’ forward, Lachante Paul.

Riteesh Mishra’s side will come away from the clash at The Oakwood the more disappointed of the two sides having been the better over the course of 90 minutes.

Devlin Impresses

The first big chance of the afternoon fell the way of the visitors’ Freya Thomas who fired her volley just wide of the post.

Paul then forced a good save out of Charlton keeper Katie Startup, as she lashed her shot straight into the midriff of the 20-year-old.

Charlton then came close to breaking the deadlock after 19 minutes, but Devlin, having rounded the keeper, was forced just too wide to get a shot off. She instead picked out Charlie Escourt who fired just wide.

Devlin then created another great chance as her hard work in closing the Foxes’ back-line down won her the ball. The 21-year-old then picked out Lilli Maple whose effort was well saved by Demi Lambourne.

Devlin’s brilliant first-half performance was later rewarded with a goal, which came just before the break. Maddie Phillips played a great ball across the box and the striker dispatched her shot in off the post.


Leicester Find Leveller 

In a very flat second-half, Leicester eventually found themselves level as Paul emphatically headed home from close range.

Much to the frustration of Mishra, the goal seemingly came against the run of play and knocked the stuffing out of the hosts.

The Addicks attempted to regain their lead, but their best chance was smothered by the Leicester goalkeeper to prevent a Devlin breakaway.

Being more mature

After the spoils were shared at the Oakwood, Mishra bemoaned his side’s inability to continue the same level of perfomance from the first half into the second, putting it down to a lack of maturity in pressure situations.

The manager said, “We scored at a very good time, just before half-time, and we deserved that because we dominated in the first half. The messages got out and we stuck to the game plan.

“But for some reason in the second half we didn’t show the same composure on the ball, we seemed to go away from the ideas some of the players had been given and I think Leicester deserved to get an equaliser. We’ve got to be more mature to deal with those situations.”

Charlton’s Line-Up and Substitutes 

Katie Startup; Rachel Newborough, Grace Coombs, Jamie Gotch; Maddie Phillips (Charley Clifford ’71), Lilli Maple (Jenna Legg ’78), Alice Griffiths, Lois Heuchan; Charlie Estcourt, Charlie Devlin, Ellie Dorey.

Attendance At The Oakwood

203

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